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Quick start lifts Springfield by GFW

Staff photo by Jeremy Behnke Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop’s Tylor Hopp drives to the basket against Springfield’s Ivan Hovland Friday night in Springfield.

SPRINGFIELD — Because of a state tournament run in football, the Springfield boys’ basketball team had to begin practice a bit later than usual.

However, that delayed start doesn’t seem to matter much for the Tigers as they remained unbeaten, defeating Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop 81-35 in a Tomahawk Conference boys’ basketball game on Friday night.

The Tigers (4-0) won their third game of the season with running time and they improved to 2-0 in conference play. GFW dropped to 0-3 on the season.

The Tigers left no room for drama with a 7-2 start, increasing the lead to 16-2 on a 3-pointer by Isaac Fink. The lead later swelled to 23-6 when Decker Scheffler scored with 11:05 left in the first half and the Tigers were turning GFW’s turnovers into baskets on the other end.

Like always, the Tigers pushed the pace and the Thunderbirds had no answer.

“We really tried to attack offensively and keep pushing the ball,” Springfield junior Mitchell Buerkle said. “That’s our game plan now, we just have to keep running.”

The Thunderbirds finally hit double digits when Tylor Hopp hit a 3-pointer with 7:30 left in the first half to cut Springfield’s lead to 31-12. The Tigers kept their foot on the pedal, taking a 52-32 lead into halftime and the offense didn’t seem to have any problem despite a late start to the basketball season.

“It still takes time, we’re still adjusting, but the more we play, we’ll become even better,” Buerkle said.

The Tigers extended the lead in the second half and the half was mostly played with running time. Fink led the Tigers with 30 points and 11 rebounds. Scheffler had 18 points and seven rebounds and Buerkle had 13 points, seven rebounds and eight assists. Mitchell Leonard also grabbed seven rebounds for the Tigers.

Ethan Schwarzrock led the Thunderbirds with 8 points and Hopp finished with 6 points.

GFW hosts Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart on Monday and Springfield is at Cedar Mountain on Tuesday.

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