Owen-Withee Downs Neillsville For Share Of Title
Monday, February 17th, 2014 -- 9:30 PM
The Owen-Withee Blackhawks downed the Neillsville Warriors 57-55 in ECC boys basketball on Monday to finish 15-3 in the conference and share the ECC title with Marshfield Columbus.The game was a see-saw battle all the way as Owen-Withee got out to a one point first quarter lead 14-13 behind 6 points from Albert Goerlitz.
Neillsville came back to outscore the Hawks in the second quarter 16-12 to take a 29-26 lead going into the locker room at the half. Jake Kunze had 7 points in the quarter and Michael Dux had 10 points to lead Neillsville at the half. Goerlitz had 10 to lead Owen-Withee.
The third quarter was just as much of a battle as Owen-Withee outscored Neillsville 12-8 to lead by one, 38-37 going into the 4th.
In the 4th, Neillsville got out to a 5 point lead only to see Owen-Withee battle back and take the lead late. Neillsville cut their 4 point lead down to 1 on a three pointer by Kyle Hauge only to see the Hawks take control on late free-throws by Albert Goerlitz, who finished 8 for 8 in the second half. A baseline jumper by Matt Grottke at the buzzer made the final 57-55.
Albert Goerlitz led all scorers with 28 points, Josiah Goerlitz added 13 for the Hawks. Michael Dux led a trio of Neillsville players in double figures with 13, Grottke had 12 and Hauge added 11.
Neillsville finishes their conference season 14-4 and they are now 15-6 overall. They will play in the 3rd place playoff game on Thursday night at Neillsville.
Owen-Withee finishes 15-3 in the conference, tied with Marshfield Columbus, who beat Spencer on Monday night. Owen-Withee and Marshfield Columbus will represent the Eastern Cloverbelt in the 1st and 2nd place playoff games at Altoona on Saturday night.
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