This story is sponsored by Forward Bank
By Paul Lecker
MarshfieldAreaSports.com
AUBURNDALE – The Auburndale boys basketball team used its typical workmanlike approach to take charge early and maintained a sizeable lead the rest of the way to defeat Wisconsin Rapids Assumption 69-51 in a Marawood Conference South Division matchup Tuesday night at Auburndale High School.
The Eagles avenged their only loss of the season, 48-40 at Assumption on Dec. 20, to win their 11th-straight game and improve to 16-1 overall and 10-1 in the Marawood South.
Two free throws by Thomas Aue gave Auburndale a 5-4 lead three minutes into the game, sparking a 10-0 run and the Eagles led the rest of the way.
Click here to view the Marawood South boys basketball standings
Four Eagles finished in double figures, with Keegan Empey leading the way with 20 points. Blake Raab added 15 points, Peyton Weinfurter scored 14 and Aue chipped in 12 in the win.
“We really started working on our late-game stuff a lot more lately,” Auburndale coach Chad Weinfurter said. “We had a lot of time to put in all the other stuff we need, and this late-game stuff is a little more refined. We got some layups off that finally, which we hadn’t been getting.
“They (Assumption) made some tough shots, but we were always able to come back and answer. I thought that was huge, and it wasn’t just from one guy, which makes us really hard to defend.”
Peyton Weinfurter scored nine of Auburndale’s final 11 points of the first half as it took a 30-20 lead into the break.
Assumption was not about to go away, hitting seven of its nine 3-pointers in the second half, but each time Auburndale had an answer.
J.T. Schlaefer scored 14 of his game-high 26 points in the second half for the Royals (6-12, 5-6 Marawood South), but Auburndale was able to maintain at least an eight-point lead and eventually built it to 17 before coasting to the victory.
The Eagles made 10 of 12 free throws over the final 4½ minutes, including five of six by Empey.
“Blake has carried us in a lot of games this year,” Chad Weinfurter said. “Now we’re having other guys step up. I really like that balance and I hope it continues.
“Josh and Peyton really started picking it up after maybe game six or seven, Thomas will have a flash here and there, and Keegan and Ayden Raab have had some really good games. We have a comfortable seven-man rotation right now. I told our games, we’re two-thirds of the way through the season, we aren’t going to make any big jumps anymore, we’re going to make little incremental jumps and improve on the little things. It’s an extremely coachable team. I don’t know if every high school coach can say that and I’m a really lucky guy.”
Auburndale will play at Prentice as part of a girls-boys Marawood crossover doubleheader on Friday. The girls game begins at 5:30 p.m. with the boys to follow at approximately 7:15 p.m.
Eagles 69, Royals 51
Assumption 20 31 – 51
Auburndale 30 39 – 69
ASSUMPTION (51): Logan Nystrom 2-4 0-0 6, Owen Hagen 2-5 0-0 6, Chase Leberg 1-6 0-0 3, J.T. Schlaefer 10-12 4-4 26, J.J. Oswald 1-5 0-0 3, Ron Bord 0-1 0-0 0, Cullen Thomas 0-0 0-0 0, Trey France 1-3 2-2 4, Parker Vruwink 1-6 0-0 3, Braeden Peters 0-0 0-0 0, Cyler Schill 0-0 0-0 0. FG: 18. FT: 6-6. 3-pointers: 9-23 (Nystrom 2-3, Hagen 2-5, Schlaefer 2-3, Leberg 1-4, Oswald 1-4, Vruwink 1-4). Rebounds: 17 (Bord 4). Turnovers: 10. Fouls: 18. Technical fouls: Nystrom, Leberg. Fouled out: Vruwink. Record: 6-12, 5-6 Marawood Conference South Division.
AUBURNDALE (69): Keegan Empey 7-8 6-8 20, Blake Raab 4-7 5-5 15, Peyton Weinfurter 6-10 0-1 14, Thomas Aue 5-11 2-4 12, Josh Lundgren 2-5 0-0 5, Ray Teska 1-1 0-0 2, Ayden Raab 0-1 1-2 1, Jaxon Grube 0-0 0-0 0, Jay Kearns 0-1 0-0 0, James Norby 0-0 0-0 0, Will Akins 0-0 0-0 0, Trevin Seevers 0-0 0-0 0. FG: 25-44. FT: 14-20. 3-pointers: 5-14 (B. Raab 2-5, Weinfurter 2-5, Lundgren 1-2, A. Raab 0-1, Kearns 0-1). Rebounds: 23 (B. Raab 7). Turnovers: 8. Fouls: 5. Technical foul: Aue. Fouled out: none. Record: 17-1, 10-1 Marawood Conference South Division.