DUBUQUE, IA. — Black Hawk ran its winning streak to five games in a row after defeating Don Bosco Catholic, 64-57, in the opening game of the 30th annual Wendy’s/American Trust Boys’ Basketball Classic held at the Loras College Athletic and Wellness Center on Saturday, Jan. 13.
    The Warriors (7-3 overall) went 7-of-10 at the foul line down the stretch to pull away from the Dons (9-2, ranked #4 in Iowa’s 1A state poll) in a nip-and-tuck interstate affair.
    “It was good game the entire way. Neither team had big leads throughout,” said Black Hawk head coach Charlie Anderson. “I thought the key was getting some stops in the fourth quarter, then converting on the other end. We also made enough free throws to seal it.”
    Black Hawk junior forward Conner Meyer reached the 1,000-point milestone for his career after matching senior guard CJ Leuzinger with a team-high 18 points in the victory.
    Meyer has exactly 1,000 points right now as a junior, joining Craig Meyer (1,413 points from 1986-90), Heath Butler (1,367 from 2011-2015) Mark Scott (1,135 points from 1999-2003) and Leon Sack (1,131 points from 1964-68) in the Warriors’ 1,000-Point Club
    Meyer needs 414 points to break the Warriors’ scoring record of 1,413 points held by his father, Craig, and he needs 581 points to top the school’s all-time scoring record of 1,580 held by current UWGB standout Jen Wellnitz.
    “It shows how hard Conner has worked to get better. He has played a lot of basketball in his life, and to achieve this mark is a nice feather in the cap for him. It also shows that his teammates understand Conner is a prolific scorer and they do a nice job of looking for him,” added Anderson about Meyer’s milestone.
    A 3-pointer by junior Kyle Lovelace in the final minute of the first quarter gave the Warriors their first lead of the game at 14-12, but that lead seesawed back-and-forth between the two teams nine times in the second quarter with the Dons grabbing a 27-26 halftime advantage on a late basket by senior center Sean McFadden.
    Senior Jason Treuthardt got the lead back for Black Hawk midway through the third quarter when he followed his own three-point play with a 3-point basket to put the Warriors up.
    McFadden briefly tied the game at 35, however a pair of baskets by Meyer, another 3-pointer by Lovelace and a three-point play by Leuzinger put Black Hawk up 47-42 heading into the fourth quarter.
    The Warriors’ advantage swelled to as many as nine following Meyer’s 1,000th-point basket early in the final frame, but the Dons refused to go away quietly as treys by Zach Nie and Cael Tenold trimmed the lead down to 56-52 with 2:20 remaining.
    Colby Argall, Treuthardt and Lovelace each sank a pair of free throws to keep the Warriors in the lead, while Leuzinger added a breakaway slam dunk and a free throw in 30 seconds of the game to seal the victory for the Warriors.
    Lovelace finished with a career-high 10 points off the bench for Black Hawk, while Treuthardt chipped in with eight points and senior guard Michael Flanagan added six points in the win.
    “Jason and Kyle really gave us nice contributions. Jason did a nice job guarding McFadden, especially in the second half when we started fronting him, and he also hit some big shots and free throws. Kyle really shoots it well for us and plays very intelligent defense. He’s been our best free throw shooter this year and he made two more big ones late,” said Anderson.
    McFadden led all scorers with 25 points and Nie sank five treys on his way to a 20-point performance for the Dons, who were without their leading scorer, Jack Kelly, who averaged 18 points per game before suffering a hip injury in mid-December.      
    Black Hawk’s non-conference game against Belmont on Thursday, Jan. 11, was postponed due to the weather. The game has been rescheduled for Friday, Feb. 16.
    The Warriors will kick off the second half of the Six Rivers East season at Barneveld (5-5, 4-0) on Friday, Jan. 19.
    “We still haven’t hit the halfway point (of the season) in terms of games played yet with all the make-ups, but we’re starting to gel and that is a good sign to try a to claw back into this conference race,” Anderson noted.
 
Don Bosco Cath… 13  14  15  15 – 57
Black Hawk………. 14  12  21  17 – 64
    Don Bosco – McFadden 25, Nie 20, Becker 4, Weber 3, Tenold 5. Totals – 22  7-11  57.
  Black Hawk – Michael Flanagan 6, Colby Argall 2, Jason Treuthardt 8, Kyle Lovelace 10, Jett Rufenacht 2, Conner Meyer 18, CJ Leuzinger 18. Totals – 25  10-16  64.
    3-point goals– DB 6 (Nie 5, Tenold 1), BH 4 (Treuthardt 1, Lovelace 2, Leuzinger 1). Total fouls– DB na, BH na. Fouled out– none.