By Paul Lecker
MarshfieldAreaSports.com
MARSHFIELD – Merrill didn’t attempt a shot in the fourth quarter of Monday’s nonconference boys basketball game against Marshfield, but the Bluejays found another way to score.
Merrill made 10 of 16 free throws in the final 8 minutes – all of the made shots by Paul Jesperson – and the Bluejays held off the Tigers 39-35 at the Marshfield High School Fieldhouse.
Marshfield was called for 25 fouls, many of them guarding Jesperson, one of the state’s top college recruits in the Class of 2011. Jesperson was 18 of 22 from the free-throw line and finished with a game-high 20 points.
Cale Zuiker scored 10 points and Sully Luepke hit three 3-pointers and finished with nine points for the Tigers, who fall to 11-4 on the season.
Luepke hit two of the 3-pointers in the final 3 minutes, the second bringing the Tigers to within 37-35 with 1:53 remaining.
After each team turned it over, a controversial call – and Jesperson’s solid free-throw shooting – sealed the game for the Bluejays.
Jesperson was initially called for traveling with 40 seconds left and Marshfield called timeout to set up an offensive play to try to tie or potentially win the game.
But after the timeout, it was announced a foul was called on Ben Johnson, who was guarding Jepserson at the top of the key. Marshfield protested, but to no avail. Jesperson made both free throws and the Tigers couldn’t find a way to score again.
“(A foul) was the call when we went in, and it was different when we went out,” a diplomatic Marshfield coach Craig Michaelis said. “That is as much as I am going to say about it.”
Merrill (12-4) jumped out to a 9-1 lead in the first quarter and never relinquished the lead.
Neither team ever found its rhythm offensively. Merrill made just 8 of 23 shots from the field, while Marshfield was 13 of 43. The Tigers were also hurt by poor free-throw shooting – a recurring theme this season. Marshfield made only 4 of 12 shots from the line.
“They are a good team and we had our opportunities but didn’t take advantage of them,” Michaelis said. “We didn’t play well on the offensive end. We didn’t have the patience we have shown the last couple of weeks offensively, and on the flip-side, they played well defensively and took some things away.
“Defensively, I thought we did some solid things, enough to win a ballgame when you hold a team to 39, but we had to be more productive and more efficient than what we were.”
Marshfield gets right back in action on Tuesday when it hosts Rhinelander as the Tigers try to maintain a one-game lead in the Wisconsin Valley Conference standings.
Bluejays 39, Tigers 35
Merrill 9 15 5 10 – 39
Marshfield 5 10 8 12 – 35
MERRILL (39): Pascal Paul 0-3 0-1 0, Lucas Czwikla 0-0 1-2 1, TJ Brunett 2-4 2-2 7, Paul Jesperson 1-8 18-22 20, Jordan Annis 4-7 0-0 8, Matt Woller 0-0 0-0 0, Dominic Muenchow 0-0 0-0 0, Sam Arneson 1- 1 1-4 3. FG: 8-23. FT: 22-31. 3-pointers: 1-7 (Brunett 1-2, Paul 0-1, Jesperson 0-3, Annis 0-1). Total fouls: 14. Fouled out: Paul. Record: 13-4.
MARSHFIELD (35): Sully Luepke 3-5 0-0 9, Elliott Ashbeck 0-3 0-0 0, Ryan Danczak 1-9 1-4 3, Steve Boehning 0-0 0-0 0, Cale Zuiker 4-11 0-0 10, Ben Johnson 2-7 1-3 5, Antonie Brown-Hainz 2-3 0-0 4, Jake Scheppler 0-3 1-2 1, Dustin Thumann 1-2 0-0 2, Jon Bauer 0-0 1-2 1. FG: 13-43. FT: 4-12. 3-pointers: 5-14 (Luepke 3-4, Zuiker 2-5, Johnson 0-2, Danczak 0-2, Ashbeck 0-1). Total fouls: 25. Fouled out: Zuiker. Record: 11-4.
Contact Paul Lecker by e-mail at paul@marshfieldareasports.com.
Video highlights available at allmarshfield.com
