This story is sponsored by Studio 211 Hair Salon
By Paul Lecker
MarshfieldAreaSports.com
Click to hear complete interview with Marshfield coach Craig Michaelis
View video highlights of the Tigers’ win at allmarshfield.com
MARSHFIELD – The Marshfield boys basketball team has hit the midway point of the season, and despite posting an 11-1 record following a 41-22 win over Wausau East on Friday night, Tigers coach Craig Michaelis said his team still has plenty of room to improve.
With the victory, Marshfield improves to 11-1 and 4-1 in the Wisconsin Valley Conference, staying within one-half game of Wisconsin Rapids for the lead in the standings. Those two teams play next Friday at Marshfield High School.
In the meantime, the Tigers are still looking to get better as the second half of the season gets underway.
“The biggest thing I can say is that I’m excited because we still have room to improve,” Michaelis said. “I don’t think we’ve peaked yet, I don’t think we’ve played our best ball yet. If we work hard, if they continue to listen, I think we have a chance to get better. We want to peak later in the year, we don’t want that to happen in January.”
The Tigers took advantage of a cold shooting night from Wausau East, which made just 6 of 39 shots from the field, 1 of 14 from 3-point range and 9 of 14 from the free-throw line. Marshfield outscored the Lumberjacks 12-0 in the second quarter to take a 21-9 lead at halftime, and led by double figures the rest of the way.
Elliot Ashbeck had five points and Cale Zuiker hit a 3-pointer in the second-quarter run as East missed all nine of its shots from the floor and all three of its free-throw attempts.
Zuiker led a balanced attack for Marshfield, scoring 10 points and dunking home two shots in the fourth quarter as the Tigers pulled away.
Ian Padron and Ashbeck each scored seven points and Dustin Thumann added six for the Tigers, who saw eight players get in the scoring column.
“(Wausau East) Coach (Jason) Teske’s teams always play so hard and they’re always well coached,” Michaelis said. “You know he’s going to throw a lot of defenses at you and I thought our kids responded well to those tonight, but by no means what it an easy task. It was a hard-fought, pretty intense game.”
Marshfield hosts Tomah in a nonconference game Tuesday before the showdown with Wisconsin Rapids next Friday.
Tigers 41, Lumberjacks 22
Wausau East 9 0 3 10 – 22
Marshfield 9 12 6 14 – 41
WAUSAU EAST (22): Nate Troyer 1-6 1-3 3, Logan Taylor 0-1 0-0 0, Andy Plautz 1-10 2-2 4, Cole Nelson 1-2 0-0 3, Mitch Schuster 0-2 1-2 1, Mark McCormick 3-8 5-5 11, Ryan Pitney 0-8 0-0 0, Adam Urmanski 0-2 0-0 0, Conrad Felten 0-0 0-0 0, Brandon Luedke 0-0 0-2 0, Connor Kepchar 0-0 0-0 0. FG: 6-39. FT: 9-14. 3-pointers: 1-14 (Nelson 1-1, Troyer 0-1, Plautz 0-5, Schuster 0-1, McCormick 0-1, Pitney 0-4, Urmanski 0-1). Rebounds: 16 (Plautz 4). Turnvoers: 9. Total fouls: 13. Fouled out: none. Record: 5-7, 1-3 Wisconsin Valley Conference.
MARSHFIELD (41): Josh Hennes 0-0 0-0 0, Brody Erickson 0-0 0-0 0, Ian Padron 3-4 1-2 7, Elliot Ashbeck 2-7 2-2 7, Sean Koran 0-0 0-0 0, Adam Voss 0-0 2-3 2, Cale Zuiker 4-12 1-1 10, Brandon Brown 1-5 0-0 3, Chris Stemen 0-0 2-2 2, Dustin Thumann 3-5 0-0 6, Alex Arendt 0-0 0-0 0, Jon Bauer 1-2 2-2 4. FG: 14-35. FT: 10-12. 3-pointers: 3-12 (Zuiker 1-4, Brown 1-3, Ashbeck 1-5). Rebounds: 34 (Ashbeck 8, Bauer 7). Turnovers: 13. Total fouls: 12. Fouled out: none. Record: 11-1, 4-1 Wisconsin Valley Conference.