This story is sponsored by: The Marshfield Tiger Booster Club
By Paul Lecker
MarshfieldAreaSports.com
MARSHFIELD – A dynamic opening nine minutes of the second half by the Marshfield boys basketball team was all it needed to turn what looked like its third loss in a row into a big Wisconsin Valley Conference win.
The Tigers trailed by 15 with a little less than three minutes to go before halftime, but outscored Stevens Point by 26 over the next 12 minutes and cruised to a 67-61 win on Friday night at the Fredrick Construction Fieldhouse at Marshfield High School.
Marshfield used a 21-1 run over 5:18 of the second half, turning a 40-31 deficit into a 52-41 lead and the Panthers did not any closer than the six they trailed by at the end.
“When you play in a high-level, high-intensity game, sometimes the opponent just comes out on fire,” Marshfield coach Chris Fischer said. “They’re so locked in, so focused, and SPASH did a great job attacking us early in the game. They knocked down some 3s, they get to the rim and we’re taking a punch in the mouth. We’ve been in that position before and haven’t really responded. Today, we responded.”
The Tigers, who had not played a home game since their season opener on Dec. 3 and had been off since finishing a three-game trip to Florida on Dec. 30, started slow.
Stevens Point jumped out to a 22-9 lead after Trent Chandonais and Sivan Dinga each had a pair of 3-pointers in the opening 10 minutes.
Marshfield trailed by as much as 15 on two different occasions, the second time at 32-17 after a Grant Chandonais 3-pointer with 2:46 remaining in the first half.
What the Tigers did next defied all odds.
Marshfield’s top scorer, Brooks Hinson, had no points to that point. He hit a 3-pointer then scored on a fastbreak layup to spark a 9-3 run to end the half and cut the Panthers’ lead to 35-26 at intermission.
Hinson scored the first five points for the Tigers in the second half, but Grant Chandonais matched him and Stevens Point led 40-31.
Marshfield responded with the game-changing run as Joey Ketterer and Hinson each hit two 3-pointers, Landon Lee added another and the Tigers scored on six-straight possessions while holding Stevens Point to just one point in a stretch of 8½ minutes.
When the dust settled, Marshfield led 52-41 and never looked back.
“In the second half, we were really good,” Fischer said. “We were good offensively, we were good defensively. Maybe it took us a little while to get in the flow, but that second half, Brooks Hinson was tremendous, Landon (Lee) controlled the tempo of the game, we rebounded better, Joey Ketterer knocked down some huge shots, Ethan Knecht had some huge finishes at the rim, Valin Ramberg played well until he got into foul trouble, and Cam Kolstad was just poised. It was a really good team effort tonight.”
Ketterer knocked in another 3-pointer and Ethan Knecht scored eight points in the final 4 minutes to ice the win for the Tigers, who are now 5-4 overall and stand alone on top of the Wisconsin Valley Conference standings at 3-0.
Hinson led the way with 20 points, all scored in a span of 11 minutes, Ketterer had 13 and Knecht 12 in the victory.
Grant Chandonais led all scorers with 21 points for the Panthers (7-5, 2-2 WVC).
Marshfield will be back at it Saturday, hosting Hudson for a nonconference game at 6 p.m.
Tigers 67, Panthers 61
Stevens Point 35 26 – 61
Marshfield 26 41 – 67
STEVENS POINT (61): Sivan Dinga 2-5 3-4 9, Trent Chandonais 3-7 1-2 9, Grant Chandonais 7-10 5-6 21, Baraka Makalin 6-12 0-1 13, Jaydon Awe 3-8 1-2 7, Jerrin Suehs 0-3 2-2 2, Reed Zastava 0-0 0-0 0, Jayden Suehs 0-1 0-0 0. FG: 21-46. FT: 12-20. 3-pointers: 7-20 (G. Chandonais 2-3, Dinga 2-4, T. Chandonais 2-4, Makalin 1-5, Awe 0-2, Je. Suehs 0-2). Rebounds: 23 (Awe 11). Turnovers: 8. Fouls: 17. Fouled out: none. Record: 7-5, 2-2 Wisconsin Valley Conference.
MARSHFIELD (67): Joey Ketterer 4-5 2-3 13, Jack Sternitzky 0-0 0-0 0, Brooks Hinson 8-14 0-0 20, Landon Lee 3-9 3-5 10, Camden Kolstad 0-1 2-2 2, Ethan Knecht 6-8 0-2 12, Valin Ramberg 3-4 3-6 10. FG: 24-41. FT: 10-18. 3-pointers: 9-16 (Hinson 4-8, Ketterer 3-3, Ramberg 1-1, Lee 1-4). Rebounds: 19 (Hinson 5, Ketterer 5). Turnovers: 9. Fouls: 14. Fouled out: none. Record: 5-4, 3-0 Wisconsin Valley Conference.