Dons Beat The Warriors In Battle Of Top Teams In The ECC

Tuesday, January 19th, 2021 -- 6:21 AM

It was another battle of two of the top teams in the Eastern Cloverbelt Conference in boys basketball on Monday night in Neillsville as Columbus Catholic downed the Warriors 71-67.

Both teams came into the game with one loss in conference play.  Early on it was Columbus Catholic who had the upper hand taking a 36-27 lead into halftime.  Coming out of the half, the Dons opened up a 12 point lead but Neillsville was able to fight back, thanks to the outside shooting of Braden Trunkel and Teagen Dillenbeck, to cut the lead to 1 with about 4:30 minutes left, but they would get no closer.  

Columbus Catholic was able to convert on freethrows, 11 for 12,  down the stretch to hang on for the win.  

The Don's Jadon Nienast led all scorers with 22 points including 6 for 6 from the line in the second half.  Eden Jacobson added 14 points for Columbus Catholic.  Andrew Brown led four Neillsville players in double figures with 15 points, Trunkel had 14, Dillenbeck 11 and Michael Byrne added 10.  

Columbus Catholic improves to 7-1 in the ECC and 10-4 overall while Neillsville falls to 5-2 in the ECC and 6-5 overall.

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