This story is sponsored by: The Marshfield Tiger Booster Club
By Paul Lecker
MarshfieldAreaSports.com
MARSHFIELD – Win and advance is the name of the game when it comes to March basketball.
It doesn’t matter how pretty, or how ugly, it’s just the ‘W’ that matters.
Stevens Point overcame an eight-point deficit late in the second half, but a Joey Ketterer 3-pointer with three minutes to go proved to be the game-winner as Marshfield defeated its Wisconsin Valley Conference rival 57-56 in a wild WIAA Division 1 boys basketball regional final Saturday night at Marshfield High School. Check out the statewide regional scoreboard here
The No. 2 seed Marshfield (20-6) moves on to a D-1 sectional final against No. 3 seed Eau Claire Memorial (21-4) on Thursday at Stevens Point. The Tigers defeated Memorial by 26 points back on Feb. 22.
Brooks Hinson drilled a 3-pointer with 8:23 to go to put Marshfield up 50-43 before Stevens Point (17-9) ripped off nine-straight points to take its first lead since midway through the first half.
Sivan Dinga capped the spurt with a 3-pointer, putting the Panthers on top 52-50 with 5:20 left.
The teams exchanged points on consecutive possessions with a driving layup by Baraka Makalin giving Point a 56-54 lead with 3:24 to go.
Ketterer calmly drained a wide open 3 from the right elbow to put the Tigers back on top with three minutes left, and despite some dicey moments for both teams, that would be it. The five points from Ketterer in the final five minutes were his only points of the game.
Stevens Point turned the ball over on its next possession and were forced to play the foul game to try to get the ball back. The fourth foul by the Panthers put Hinson at the line, but the senior missed, giving Stevens Point a chance.
Marshfield then used the foul game to its advantage. With three fouls to give before the bonus, the Tigers used all of them to help wind the clock down. After Marshfield committed its sixth foul of the half with 2.7 seconds to go, Stevens Point was left with one last chance and a 3-pointer from Grant Chandonais missed, sealing a one-point win and a regional title for the Tigers as they defeated Stevens Point for the third time this season.
“SPASH is really good,” Marshfield coach Chris Fischer said. “Every game of basketball is different. If we play them three more times, everyone one of them is going to be different. It’s another win in March. It doesn’t matter how you get there, we’re there.”
Stevens Point started strong, taking a 9-3 lead after a pair of thunderous dunks from 6-foot-9 senior Jayden Awe.
Chris Pohl hit his second of five 3-pointers for Marshfield before Awe slammed home another.
Marshfield fought back as Valin Ramberg, Pohl and Hinson hit consecutive 3s, giving the Tigers their first lead at 17-15.
The Tigers were able to push their lead to 27-18 after another Ramberg 3-pointer and two free throws from the junior forward, who finished with 15 points.
A spurt at the end of the half brought the Panthers to within 33-28 at halftime.
“We had a tough time in transition,” Fischer said of the early part of the game. “I thought our half-court defense was pretty good most of the night. We did have a tough time keeping dribble penetration in front of us at times. They had some guys step up for them, but we did too.
“We took the initial punch, but Valin knocked down some 3s, Chris was good all night, Brooks and Landon compete so hard.”
Stevens Point made a pair of runs at the Tigers early in the second half, eventually whittling the deficit to 42-41 on a basket from Dinga with 12 minutes remaining.
Pohl connected again from deep, and Hinson’s second 3-pointer gave Marshfield a 50-43 lead, setting up the wild finish.
Pohl ended up with a game-high 19 points, going 5-for-10 from 3-point range as the Tigers drained 11 shots from deep overall.
Awe had 15 points and Dinga 14 for the Panthers.
“There’s 16 teams left in Division 1 and we’re one of them,” Fischer said. “I’m really happy that I’m able to spend a little more time with these guys. I’ll take these guys against anybody and I say that because they play so hard, compete at a high level and their prepared to live with whatever the result is.”
Tigers 57, Panthers 56
Stevens Point 28 28 – 56
Marshfield 33 24 – 57
STEVENS POINT (56): Sivan Dinga 4-6 1-1 14, Trent Chandonais 3-6 0-0 7, Grant Chandonais 2-6 1-3 5, Baraka Makalin 4-10 0-0 9, Jonny Ananiadis 0-0 0-0 0, Jaydon Awe 7-12 1-1 15, Jerrin Suehs 2-5 2-4 6. FG: 22-45. FT: 5-9. 3-pointers: 5-15 (Dinga 3-4, T. Chandonais 1-3, Makalin 1-3, G. Chandonais 0-1, Awe 0-1, Suehs 0-3). Rebounds: 22 (Awe 8). Turnovers; 6. Fouls: 12. Fouled out: none. Record: 17-9.
MARSHFIELD (57): Chris Pohl 7-12 0-0 19, Joey Ketterer 1-3 2-2 5, Brooks Hinson 3-9 0-1 8, Landon Lee 5-13 0-0 10, Camden Kolstad 0-0 0-0 0, Ethan Knecht 0-0 0-0 0, Valin Ramberg 5-10 2-2 15. FG: 21-47. FT: 4-5. 3-pointers: 11-26 (Pohl 5-10, Ramberg 3-5, Hinson 2-6, Ketterer 1-1, Lee 0-4). Rebounds: 27 (Hinson 8). Turnovers: 5. Fouls: 13. Fouled out: none. Record: 20-6.