On Wednesday night against visiting Elcho, that style led to a 24-point lead over the Hornets with about 11 minutes to play. But then when the prudent thing to do was to slow the game down some, the Bobcats looked like a caged animal at times – wanting to burst free. Turnovers mounted a bit and Elcho cut into the lead, but Florence came away with the 64-50 Northern Lakes Conference victory.

The win came one night after the Bobcats drilled Forest Park by 37 points on the road.

“I think we have selfless basketball players, I mean we really do,” Bomberg said. “They get along with each other, they play well, I think that’s a credit to them. When we’re clicking and we’re jelling, I mean, we’re a fun team to watch.”

That they are. After a bit of a sluggish start, Florence did begin clicking. Evan Johnson, William Kelly and Logan Schuls all buried 3-pointers in a 70-second stretch that left the Bobcats with a 16-8 advantage.

Florence senior Cole Sweig (10) battles for a rebound against Elcho’s Keegan Klingler (23) and a couple other Hornets during his team’s victory in a makeup game postponed from earlier in the season. With the win, the Bobcats completed their back-to-back with a pair of wins after knocking off Forest Park on Tuesday.

About four minutes later, a three-point play from Patrick Milan gave Florence a 29-13 lead as Elcho coach Michelle Kincaid burned her third timeout of the opening 13 minutes.

“I think my guys were ready to go tonight,” Bomberg said. “I don’t think the back-to-back (games) really affected us too much.”

Leading 40-23 at intermission, Florence started quickly in the second half on the strength of their transition game. Schuls scored a bucket and then dished out three assists to spark the Bobcats to a 57-33 lead.

Schuls finished with 14 points in the game.

“I think he’s growing up on the floor,” Bomberg said of his sophomore guard. “Last year as a freshmen, he didn’t get a lot of (playing time), so this year he’s kind of growing up in front of us. There’s some times where he might take a questionable shot and he understands it right away. which is good.

“I thought he played a solid game last night, and I thought he played a solid game again tonight,” Bomberg added.

Though down big, the Hornets did not quit. They hit the offensive boards hard, took advantage of 12 second-half turnovers by the Bobcats and made the game respectable in the end.

Elcho senior guard Seth Schuett led the march back with 13 of his game-high 24 points in the second half.

Once again, Florence spread the wealth with four players in double figures. Johnson led with 17, followed by Kelley with 15, Schuls’ 14 and Milan with 10.

With the victory, the Bobcats finish the pre-Christmas portion of their schedule at 5-2.

“We have two losses,” Bomberg said when asked to grade the first section of the season. “I was OK with the Shiocton game (a 76-64 loss) because I thought we played really tough, but the Laona-Wabeno game (a 55-47 defeat) still stings. So I’m going to give us a B- right now.”

Jerry DeRoche can be reached at 906-774-2772, ext. 247, or at jderoche@ironmountaindailynews.com