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By Paul Lecker
MarshfieldAreaSports.com
Click here to listen to the full interview with Marshfield coach Craig Michaelis
View video highlights of the Tigers’ win at allmarshfield.com
MARSHFIELD – The Marshfield boys basketball team got a boost in the first half from an unusual source, and another in the second half from one of its leaders.
In the end, the two added up to just enough as the Tigers pulled out a 57-55 nonconference victory over Lakeland on Tuesday night at Marshfield High School.
Seldom-used senior Josh Hennes scored seven straight points to spark a sluggish Tigers squad early in the second quarter to help Marshfield recover from an early deficit. In the second half, junior guard Elliot Ashbeck poured in 27 points, including 14 straight in the third quarter. Ashbeck also made four free throws in the final 15 seconds to secure the win.
“We’ve got guys that are working hard and doing some nice things throughout the season and definitely earned that opportunity,” Marshfield coach Craig Michaelis said of the Tigers’ reserves who got extra playing time Tuesday. “You couldn’t say enough about what Josh Hennes did tonight. He’s been the consummate team player this year, he’s worked hard every day in practice. The same with Adam Voss, who came in had some nice minutes, and Sean Koran the same way.
“They weren’t the only ones, but they were certainly guys that you would pinpoint as guys that gave us a spark.”
Down 13-11 early in the second quarter, Hennes entered an immediately converted a three-point play and scored off a rebound to push the Tigers to a 16-13 lead.
Dustin Thumann scored eight of his 10 points in the final 2:06 of the half to give Marshfield a 26-20 lead at halftime.
After the break, Ashbeck took over. The 6-foot-3 guard made his first six shots – one was a 3-pointer and another led to a conventional three-point play – and finished 7 of 8 in the third quarter and scored 16 points to keep the Tigers in front.
“I thought he wasn’t himself in the first half, but I don’t think he went crazy and tried to force it at all,” Michaelis said of Ashbeck’s performance. “In that second half, he got the hot hand. He recognized it, and more importantly, his teammates recognized it. They were patient, they screened for him and gave him some extra looks. Smart teams will do that. It was good to see we were able to make those extra passes.”
Lakeland closed strong as Ian Schwanda hit a 3-pointer and Taylor VanDeLoo scored with 10 seconds left, cutting the Tigers’ lead to 44-42 entering the fourth.
The Thunderbirds continued their run, scoring the first five points of the fourth quarter to take a 47-44 lead.
Ashbeck responded with two straight 3-pointers and Marshfield led the rest of the quarter until Danny Kuepper nailed a 3-pointer with 20 seconds left to tie the game at 53-53.
Ashbeck was fouled bringing the ball up court and hit both free throws. After a Lakeland turnover, Ashbeck made two more from the line with 3 seconds left. Lakeland scored with 1 second left, but couldn’t stop the clock when the Tigers inbounded the ball before the buzzer sounded.
The Tigers improve to 14-4 with four regular-season games remaining. With the playoffs near, it’s time for Marshfield to find a way to start playing at the highest level possible, Michaelis said.
“This is the time of the year you want to be playing your best,” Michaelis said. “We’ve kicked a few to the loss side. We’re 6-4 in the last 10. We were living on the edge in some of those games when we were 8-0. I thought we were in a little better synch earlier in the season. We got away from some of those things. Those games we got early, those were the games that were getting away from us.
“We’re going to continue to work, we’re going to continue to get better. We understand that we can be very good but we’re capable of losing to anybody.”
Marshfield hosts D.C. Everest on Friday in its final regular-season home game.
Tigers 57, Thunderbirds 55
Lakeland 10 10 22 13 – 55
Marshfield 8 18 18 13 – 57
LAKELAND (55): Justin Cobb 2-8 4-5 9, Cameron Roy 0-2 0-0 0, Marquis Johnson 1-8 2-4 5, Brandon Howard 3-6 3-4 10, Ian Schwanda 3-4 0-0 8, Taylor VanDeLoo 1-1 0-0 2, Danny Kuepper 2-5 0-0 6, Matt Iverson 4-10 2-3 10, Jacob Mestelle 1-3 3-3 5, Jordan Musbach 0-0 0-0 0. FG: 17-47. FT: 14-19. 3-pointers: 7-14 (Schwanda 2-2, Kuepper 2-3, Cobb 1-5, Johnson 1-3, Howard 1-1). Rebounds: 21 (Howard 6). Turnovers: 8. Total fouls: 15. Fouled out: none. Record: 9-6.
MARSHFIELD (57): Josh Hennes 3-4 1-1 7, Ian Padron 0-1 0-0 0, Elliot Ashbeck 9-12 6-7 27, Sean Koran 2-2 0-1 5, Adam Voss 0-0 0-0 0, Cale Zuiker 2-10 0-0 6, Brandon Brown 0-2 0-1 0, Chris Stemen 1-4 0-0 2, Dustin Thumann 3-4 4-4 10, Jon Bauer 0-0 0-0 0. FG: 20-39. FT: 11-14. 3-pointers: 6-13 (Ashbeck 3-5, Zuiker 2-5, Koran 1-1, Brown 0-1, Stemen 0-1). Rebounds: 27 (Ashbeck 7). Turnovers: 12. Total fouls: 14. Fouled out: none. Record: 14-4.