The Mauston Golden Eagles boys basketball team hosted the Richland Center Hornets in non-conference action Tuesday night for their final game before the holiday break. It was a hard-fought game by both teams, but the Hornets were able to stay just ahead of the Golden Eagles to get the victory.

After trailing 13-3 in the first quarter, Mauston battled back to tie the game at 13 at the end of the quarter. The Golden Eagles only made two shots in the quarter, but they made 8 of 10 shots from the free-throw line to get back in the game. Mauston only had the lead once in the game right before halftime when they led 25-24, but the Hornets scored on their very next possession to take a 26-25 lead at the half.

The Golden Eagles trailed by 7-points at the end of the third quarter, but again they battled back and tied the game at 49 late in the fourth before the Hornets were able to seal away the victory from the free-throw line. Richland Center only scored one basket from the floor in the fourth quarter, but made 9 of 14 from the free-throw line to hang on for the win.

The Hornets were led in scoring by junior Alec Adsit who finished with four 3-pointers and 21-points total. Senior Todd Wienkes added 11-points, senior Shane Sosinsky had 7-points, junior John Hassell contributed 6-points, sophomore Alex Mortimer had 5-points, and juniors Xavier Moen and Denzel Connor finished with 2-points a piece off the bench. Richland Center made eight 3-pointers in the game. After making just 2 of 8 from the free-throw line in the first half, the Hornets finished shooting 50% making 11 of 22.

Junior Joel Heesch led the way for the Golden Eagles leading all scorers with 28-points. With his performance, Heesch went over the 200 mark in scoring, and now has 202-points total in eight games this season. The other four starters contributed the rest of the points for Mauston with junior Hunter Nelson finishing with 8-points, senior Taylor Ingraham added 6-points, senior Jack Orton made 5 of 6 from the free-throw line in the first quarter to finish with just the 5-points, and junior Ross Thompson contributed just 2-points. The Golden Eagles shot 72% from the line making 16 of 22.

Mauston falls to 5-3 overall as they were kept well below their season average of 69-points per game at home. Richland Center improves to 5-2 as both teams head into the holiday break. The Golden Eagles will resume play on Tuesday, January 3rd when they host Adams-Friendship in South Central Conference play.