This story is sponsored by: Victory Apparel
By Paul Lecker
MarshfieldAreaSports.com
MARSHFIELD – The Marshfield boys basketball team hit the court Tuesday night at home for the first time in more than a week to start a stretch run of eight games in 17 days to close the regular season.
First up was a nonconference matchup with Eau Clarie North and the Huskies came out firing, making four 3-pointers in the opening six minutes. Marshfield responded with a 21-4 run and never looked back, winning 86-71 at Marshfield High School.
All five Marshfield starters scored in double figures as the Tigers overcame 16 3-point makes on a whopping 45 attempts from the Huskies to improve to 12-5 and 8-1 since the start of the new year. The 86 points is a season-high for the Tigers.
“It was a very high-possession game and there was a lot of things that went on,” Marshfield coach Chris Fischer said. “Eau Claire North is a very dangerous team. The sheer volume of 3-point attempts. They made 16 and who’s to say if they make 20, 22 of them, it’s a completely different game. It was a certainly a different for us than we’ve had this year just with the amount of possessions.”
North (7-12) wasn’t shy, jacking up 11 3-point tries in the first 5 ½ minutes and making four to take a 12-10 lead.
The frantic pace continued but the Huskies went cold and Marshfield took advantage.
Landon Lee scored nine of his 15 points and Joey Ketterer had six of his 15 in the 21-4 spurt for the Tigers, who turned the two-point deficit into a 31-16 lead in a little more than five minutes. Marshfield led by double digits the rest of the way.
Another 8-0 run later in the half, sparked by a 3-pointer from Ketterer and a three-point play by Brooks Hinson, who had a team-high 19 points, helped the Tigers take a 45-29 lead into halftime.
Despite scoring just four points in the opening five minutes of the second half, the Tigers remained in control.
Ketterer and Hinson hit 3-pointers in a 14-7 run that pushed Marshfield’s lead to 63-39.
North’s Aaron Gust drained five of his seven 3-pointers in the final 9:18 but the Huskies only got as close as 13 as Chris Pohl (18 points, 15 rebounds) scored 14 of the Tigers’ final 23 points.
Gust finished with a game-high 21 point and Tyler Barrows added 17 for the Huskies.
Next up for Marshfield is Stevens Point in a battle of Wisconsin Valley Conference leaders on Thursday at Stevens Point. The Tigers are 8-0 and SPASH sits at 6-3, allowing Marshfield to clinch a fourth-straight WVC championship with a victory.
“I learned from Coach (Len) Luedtke being on the football staff a number of years ago, that we treat each conference game as a conference championship game,” Fischer said. “We’ve had eight conference championship games already and have another one coming up on Thursday.
“Stevens Point is playing really well. Offensively they are opening up things a bit, they’ll come in with some confidence and on their home floor. It’s going to be a good challenge for us, but I love our guys, I love how hard they play, I love how they compete. I know they are going to give a 100 percent effort, play their tails off and live with the result.”
Tigers 86, Huskies 71
Eau Claire North 29 42 – 71
Marshfield 45 41 – 86
EAU CLAIRE NORTH (71): Tyler Barrows 6-12 3-3 17, Zach Shipman 2-7 0-0 5, Caleb Stone 0-3 0-0 0, Elliott Bessen 5-11 3-4 16, Aaron Gust 7-14 0-0 21, Dexter Rennock 0-1 0-0 0, Landon Knecht 0-0 0-0 0, Isaac West 2-10 0-0 5, Joseph Kent 0-0 0-0 0, McCabe Thesing-Ritter 2-7 1-2 7. FG: 24-65. FT: 7-9. 3-pointers: 16-45 (Gust 7-12, Bessen 3-6, Thesing-Ritter 2-5, Barrows 2-8, Shipman 1-4, West 1-7, Rennock 0-1, Stone 0-2). Rebounds: 25 (Gust 7). Turnovers: 8. Fouls: 18. Fouled out: none. Record: 7-12.
MARSHFIELD (86): Chris Pohl 6-14 4-4 18, Joey Ketterer 4-8 5-6 15, Jack Sternitzky 0-1 2-2 2, Brooks Hinson 7-15 4-5 19, Landon Lee 6-10 2-2 15, Afton Hamill 0-0 0-0 0, J.J. Steinbach 0-0 0-0 0, Camden Kolstad 0-6 1-2 1, Magnus Machtan 0-0 0-0 0, Ethan Knecht 5-6 0-0 10, Valin Ramberg 3-7 0-0 6. FG: 31-67. FT: 18-21. 3-pointers: 6-22 (Ketterer 2-4, Pohl 2-6, Lee 1-2, Hinson 1-3, Sternitzky 0-1, Ramberg 0-3, Kolstad 0-3). Rebounds: 49 (Pohl 15). Turnovers: 9. Fouls: 7. Fouled out: none. Record: 12-5.