Colfax boys post wins over Lancers, Crusaders

Colfax boys added two wins on the home court over the weekend to move their record to 9-2 for the season. The Bulldogs will be back at home Friday to host Reardan and then will travel to Tekoa Saturday to play the Tekoa/Rosalia Timberwolves.

Tekoa/Rosalia bumped their record to 10-2 Tuesday with a non-league win over St. John.

On the Colfax court Friday, Colfax and Liberty dueled in the first half and the Lancers actually took an edge in the third quarter before the Bulldogs hit the switch in the last quarter for a 67-53 league win.

Carson Cloaninger hit 22 points for Colfax, but the home team had a big boost from Bennett Gray who rattled off 16 points and Cameron Hiatt who finished with 11. Both senior guards managed to get inside the Lancers' defense to hit the scores.

After leading 36-26 at the half, Colfax went cold in the top of the third quarter, and the Lancers tied it a 36-36 on a bucket by 6-5 senior Issak Ottmar. He then hit a hook shot to break out a 38-36 lead with 2:18 left in the third quarter.

Colfax then bounced back with a run of six points with Hiatt making two hits. Colfax led 46-38 at the end of the quarter, and added six points to the gap with 21 in the final frame.

Ottmar led all scorers in the game with 26 points.

Saturday on the home court, the Bulldogs pegged a 25-18 lead after the first half and then turned on the power in the second half with 34 more points for the 59-38 finish. The Crusaders totaled just 17 points over the last two quarters against a Colfax man-to-man defense which locked up a lot of the offense for the green club.

Hiatt hit 17 points for the night with four 3-point shots. Hunter Claassen, who was credited with igniting Colfax at the start of the second half, hit three 3-pointers at the top of the third quarter.

Northwest Christian, which came to town with an 8-2 record, was led by Reed Loranger who finished with 12 points. He pulled down 10 rebounds for the Crusaders.

Under the new north/south split format of the NE teams, Saturday's home show against the Crusaders will be the only time Colfax will play NWC during the league campaign.

Colfax 67-Liberty 53: 14/11 22/16 10/12 21/15 Hunter Claassen 1 (3pt) 1-2 4, Cameron Hiatt 5 1-1 11, Bennett Gray 7 2-6 16, Cole Baerlocher 1 0-2 2, Ryan Rubin 0 4-5 4, Carson Cloaninger 7-8 23, John Lustig 1 (3pt) 2-2 5, Kelan Becker 1 0-0 2. Total 23 16-25 f-23 67. Liberty: Jacob Holling 0 1-3 1, Issak Ottmar 9 (3pt) 7-7 26, Tashawn Colvin 3 3-5 9, John Denny 3 0-2 6. Total 18 14-21 f-20 53.

Colfax 59-Northwest Christian 36: 18/15 7/3 20/8 14/9: Claassen 3 (all 3pt) 0-0 9, Hiatt 7 (4-3pt) 0-0 18, Gray 1 0-0 2, Baerlocher 0 1-2 1, Rubin 1 0-0 2, Cloaninger 10 (3pt) 4-4 25, Total 23 5-6 f-12 59. NWC Jacob Gray 2 (3pt) 0-0 5, Reed Loranger 5 (3pt) 1-2 12, Eckahelo Simpson 3 1-5 7, Jacob Lawrence 1 1-1 3, Guillen Young 1 2-3 4, Total 14 5-12 f-11 36