This story is sponsored by Forward Bank
By Paul Lecker
MarshfieldAreaSports.com
STRATFORD – The Marawood Conference South Division championship was on the line Monday night, and Stratford dominated on its home floor.
The Tigers went crazy from long range in the first half and used a 25-2 run over a 10-minute stretch and went on to bury Auburndale 59-33 at Stratford High School.
The win is Stratford’s 10th in a row since a four-point loss at Auburndale on Jan. 17 and pulls the Tigers even with the Eagles in the Marawood South standings at 13-2 with one game remaining for each team on Thursday. Stratford also snaps Auburndale’s 16-game winning streak.
Click here to view the Marawood South boys basketball standings
Auburndale led 6-2 to start the game before the Tigers got things rolling on a 3-pointer by Kaden Foster and it never looked back.
The Tigers (21-2 overall) went on to hit five-straight 3s and seven of nine for the rest of the half as Auburndale (21-2 overall) had no answer as it watched them race out to a 27-8 lead.
“I thought our defense was pretty suffocating tonight,” Stratford coach Curt Schmidt said. “Early on I was getting a little worried about it, but we tightened it up a bit and did a better job of defending the post. We were able to contain the dribble, our shot selection was really good and we were able to attack the rim.
“Last time we had a bunch of balls blocked on us and we were able to get to the rim without too much of that.”
Peyton Weinfurter ended the run with a 3-pointer for Auburndale before Brooks Vanderhoof retaliated with a 3 of his own for Stratford, which eventually took a commanding 34-14 lead into halftime.
Nothing was for certain as Auburndale has come from behind numerous times with big second-half performances throughout the course of the season, but it was not going to happen this time around.
Stratford made its first six shots after halftime and put together a 9-0 run to push its lead to 52-22 after an offensive rebound and putback by Riley Spindler.
Both teams emptied their benches for the final three minutes as the Tigers were able to finish off the victory and continue its long winning streak with the stout defensive effort.
“They get to the rim very well and have a 6-7 kid (Thomas Aue) that they can get the ball,” Schmidt said. “When you are short like us, you can’t defend him one-on-one, so you have to rotate really well and hopefully you can mix it up.”
Drew Bruesewitz had 13 points and Foster 12 for Stratford, which also held Auburndale’s top scorer, Blake Raab, to just five points on 1-for-4 shooting. Weinfurter made three 3-points and scored nine points to top Auburndale.
Stratford travels to Wisconsin Rapids Assumption and Auburndale will host Marathon on Thursday in the regular-season and Marawood South finales for both teams as the conference championship, or a share of it, will be on the line again.
Tigers 59, Eagles 33
Auburndale 14 19 – 33
Stratford 34 25 – 59
AUBURNDALE (33): Peyton Weinfurter 3-9 0-0 9, Ayden Raab 0-2 0-0 0, Ray Teska 0-0 0-0 0, Blake Raab 1-4 2-2 5, Trevin Seevers 0-0 0-0 0, Keegan Empey 3-4 0-0 6, Josh Lundgren 2-7 0-0 6, Will Akins 1-3 0-0 3, Thomas Aue 1-2 0-2 2, Kyle Bohman 1-1 0-0 2, Jaxon Grube 0-1 0-0 0, James Norby 0-0 0-0 0. FG: 12-33. FT: 2-4. 3-pointers: 7-23 (Weinfurter 3-9, Lundgren 2-6, Akins 1-3, B. Raab 1-3, A. Raab 0-2). Rebounds: 13 (Aue 4, A. Raab 4). Turnovers: 10. Fouls: 13. Fouled out: none. Record: 21-2, 13-2 Marawood Conference South Division.
STRATFORD (59): Caleb Wrensch 2-6 0-0 5, Jett Schoenherr 2-5 1-1 5, Drew Bruesewitz 6-7 0-0 13, Riley Spindler 3-5 0-0 8, Brooks Vanderhoof 4-7 0-0 10, Brady Berg 1-1 0-0 2, Hardol Arcos Perez 0-0 0-0 0, Will Kraus 0-0 0-1 0, Thomas Bangart 0-0 0-0 0, Gavin Meyer 0-0 0-0 0, Kaden Foster 4-6 1-2 12, Coltan Breit 0-0 0-0 0, Ryan Christopherson 0-0 0-0 0, Jack Remus 1-1 2-2 4, Trygve Aschenbrenner 0-0 0-0 0. FG: 23-38. FT: 4-6. 3-pointers: 9-14 (Foster 3-5, Vanderhoof 2-2, Spindler 2-2, Bruesewitz 1-1, Wrensch 1-3, Schoenherr 0-1). Rebounds: 21 (Bruesewitz 5). Turnovers: 7. Fouls: 12. Fouled out: none. Record: 21-2, 13-2 Marawood Conference South Division.