This story is sponsored by: Wisconsin Homes of Marshfield
By Steve Pilz
For MarshfieldAreaSports.com
WAUSAU – It’s been a decade since the Auburndale boys basketball team last made it to the state tournament.
A strong second-half surge Thursday has put the Eagles in position to make it happen again.
Auburndale overcame a slow start to take a three-point halftime lead and pulled away in the second half to knock off Marawood Conference rival Stratford 62-49 in a WIAA Division 4 sectional semifinal at Wausau West High School.
Auburndale (24-3) moves on to face Bonduel (26-1) in a D-4 sectional final Saturday at Stevens Point Area Senior High with a berth in next week’s state tournament in Madison on the line.
“(Bonduel is) extremely talented,” Auburndale coach Chad Weinfurter said. “They’ve been (ranked) No. 1 in the state most of the year. They’re well coached, they’re big, they’re long. They can shoot it. They’ve got four guys shooting over 40 percent. They’ve got a 6-6, 250-pound football recruit. It’s a big hill to climb so we’ll see. Don’t count us out.”
Auburndale missed its first 11 shots and fell behind 9-0, before the Eagles got their offense going.
Three 3-pointers from Blake Raab held Auburndale take an 18-15 lead into halftime. Stratford never led again.
Peyton Weinfurter hit two 3s and Raab another to help Auburndale build a comfortable lead as it started the second half on a 17-2 run to go up 35-17.
After scoring just 18 points in the first half, the Eagles put up 44 in the second, finishing 21-for-25 at the free throw line as Raab knocked down 9 of 10 on his way to a game-high 23 points. Weinfurter added 17 and Thomas Aue finished with six points and 13 rebounds in the win.
“Peyton (Weinfurter) was outstanding,” Chad Weinfurter said. “Since the beginning of the year Josh (Lundgren) and Peyton got going and really made us hard to defend, especially if they’re going to commit so many resources in stopping Blake. And then you got Thomas (Aue) inside and while he’s not aways dominant, at 6-7 or 6-8 he knows how to play. On defense they couldn’t get anything at the rim for a long time, because he did a good job of moving his feet. He did better tonight and that was outstanding.”
Stratford came as close as eight late but didn’t have enough as the Eagles were able to finish off the win at the line.
Drew Bruesewitz finished with 17 points and Kaden Foster knocked down three 3-pointers to chip in nine, but the Tigers (24-3) finished just 8-for-24 from 3-point range and shot 32 percent (16-for-49) overall as they saw their 13-game winning streak snapped to end their terrific season.
Eagles 62, Tigers 49
Stratford 15 34 – 49
Auburndale 18 44 – 62
STRATFORD (49): Caleb Wrensch 0-7 0-0 0, Jett Schoenherr 3-4 0-2 6, Drew Bruesewitz 4-16 7-8 17, Riley Spindler 2-7 2-2 8, Brooks Vanderhoof 3-8 0-0 7, Brady Berg 1-2 0-0 2, Willl Kraus 0-1 0-0 0, Kaden Foster 3-4 0-0 9. FG: 16-49. FT: 9-12. 3-pointers: 8-24 (Foster 3-4, Spindler 2-5, Bruesewitz 2-6, Schoenherr 0-1, Kraus 0-1, Berg 0-1, Wrensch 0-3). Rebounds: 26 (Schoenherr 5, Foster 5). Fouls: 19. Fouled out: Vanderhoof, Foster. Record: 24-3.
AUBURNDALE (62): Blake Raab 5-11 9-10 23, Peyton Weinfurter 4-10 7-8 17, Keegan Empey 3-4 2-2 8, Thomas Aue 3-8 0-1 6, Josh Lundgren 1-5 3-4 5, Ayden Raab 1-2 0-0 3, Jaxon Grube 0-0 0-0 0. FG: 17-40. FT: 21-25. 3-pointers: 7-21 (B. Raab 4-8, Weinfurter 2-7, A. Raab 1-2, Empey 0-1, Lundgren 0-3). Rebounds: 28 (Aue 13). Fouls: 15. Fouled out: none. Record: 24-3.