This story is sponsored by: Valley Communities Credit Union
By Paul Lecker
MarshfieldAreaSports.com
MARSHFIELD – In a game that was tied seven times in the fourth quarter, the winner was appropriately decided in the final seconds.
Luke Heller scored with 4 seconds left to lift D.C. Everest to a 50-48 victory over Marshfield in the Tigers’ boys basketball team’s final regular-season home game Friday night at Marshfield High School.
Everest improves to 15-4 and 6-3 in the Wisconsin Valley Conference, while Marshfield falls to 14-5 and 5-5 in the WVC. It was the Tigers’ fourth loss in their last six games and second of the season to the Evergreens.
Marshfield’s Elliot Ashbeck scored with 1:34 left to tie the game at 48-48, the 11th time the score was tied.
Following a timeout, Everest ran off 1:30 on the clock before Andy Reiche found Heller underneath the basket and the 6-foot-6 senior scored.
Marshfield called timeout with 3.5 seconds to go, but a long inbounds pass was too long and intercepted by the Evergreens and time expired.
“We had a foul to give,” Marshfield coach Craig Michaelis said. “I wanted them to be aggressive, but in the same respect I didn’t want to be sending people to the foul line. He (Heller) got too deep. Everybody knows where it’s going. To their credit, they got him to where he needed to be and he made the play.”
Marshfield led 10-4 early before the Evergreens stormed back and tied it on back-to-back 3-pointers by Reiche. The score was tied 12-12 after one quarter.
The Tigers pulled ahead in the third quarter behind senior Cale Zuiker, who scored 11 straight points for Marshfield. His second 3-pointer of the stretch made it 30-29 and Ashbeck scored off of a steal to put the Tigers up three. Heller responded with a 25-foot 3-pointer at the third quarter buzzer, tying the game 32-32.
Zuiker, who finished with 30 points, continued his hot shooting, scoring 11 points in the fourth quarter as the lead see-sawed back and forth.
Reiche made his fourth 3-pointer of the game to put Everest up 46-44 with 2:25 left. Zuiker made two free throws to tie it only to have the Evergreens’ Alex Tarras hit a jumper to put DCE up again.
Ashbeck scored with 1:34 left to tie the game, setting up the winning possession for the Evergreens.
“I expected that kind of a game,” Michaelis said. “Two equally-matched teams. To their credit, they made the play. They got it to their big gun and he made the play he did. I liked the fight my team had tonight, I liked the focus they had, but it’s tough to come up on the short end.”
Marshfield plays at Wausau East on Tuesday.
Evergreens 50, Tigers 48
D.C. Everest 12 12 8 18 – 50
Marshfield 12 7 13 16 – 48
D.C. EVEREST (50): Alex Tarras 3-4 0-0 6, Andy Reiche 4-6 0-0 12, Brent Esser 1-6 0-0 2, Cody Messerschmidt 1-1 0-1 2, Austin Waldvogel 2-11 2-2 6, Ben Aleckson 1-1 2-2 4, Luke Heller 4-8 5-5 14, Connor Messerschmidt 0-0 0-0 0, Jared Gjertson 2-2 0-0 4. FG: 18-38. FT: 9-10. 3-pointers: 5-16 (Reiche 4-6, Heller 1-4, Aleckson 0-1, Waldvogel 0-2, Esser 0-3). Rebounds: 18 (Heller 4, Aleckson 4). Turnovers: 7. Total fouls: 13. Fouled out: none. Record: 15-4, 6-3 Wisconsin Valley Conference.
MARSHFIELD (48): Ian Padron 3-6 2-3 8, Elliot Ashbeck 3-9 0-3 6, Sean Koran 0-0 0-0 0, Cale Zuiker 11-16 4-5 30, Brandon Brown 0-0 0-0 0, Chris Stemen 1-2 0-0 2, Dustin Thumann 1-3 0-0 2, Jon Bauer 0-0 0-0 0. FG: 19-36. FT: 6-11. 3-pointers: 4-10 (Zuiker 4-7, Ashbeck 0-2, Padron 0-1). Rebounds: 20 (Padron 5). Turnovers: 9. Total fouls: 9. Fouled out: none. Record: 14-5, 5-5 WVC.