By Paul Lecker
MarshfieldAreaSports.com
MARSHFIELD – The Marshfield boys basketball game put together four decisive runs – one in each quarter – to outlast Stevens Point Area Senior High 38-31 in a Wisconsin Valley Conference game Friday night at Marshfield High School.
The most important of the four runs came at the end when the Tigers, clinging to a one-point lead, outscored SPASH 6-0 to end the game to improve to 13-5 overall and 8-2 in the Wisconsin Valley Conference.
Cale Zuiker led Marshfield with eight points and had three blocked shots and scored the Tigers’ only basket from the field during the 6-0 run to close out the game.
“It wasn’t our best effort of the year by any stretch,” Marshfield coach Craig Michaelis said. “We’re fortunate to get a win. Part of it is what we did during the game, and you’ve got to give credit to SPASH. They came in here, played hard, executed, got what they wanted and played the style and the game that they wanted to.”
Zuiker’s 3-pointer capped an 8-0 run during the third quarter to gave the Tigers a 30-18 lead. However, Marshfield wouldn’t score for more 4 minutes and SPASH crawled back into it.
Josh Barnes scored five points in a 13-2 run that brough the Panthers to within a point at 32-31 with 2:45 left.
SPASH had a chance to take the lead at the free-throw line, but Brad Stroik missed the first of a bonus situation and the Tigers responded as Zuiker scored inside off a bounce pass from Ben Johnson to go up 34-31.
Marshfield made four of six free throws in the final 48 seconds and SPASH missed its final five shots from the floor.
“We struggled tonight, pretty much every aspect of the game,” Marshfield senior Ryan Danczak said. “It wasn’t our best showing, but we’re happy we got the win. Playing like this isn’t going to get it done Tuesday against D.C. Everest, so we’re looking forward to redeeming ourselves Tuesday and get back on track in what hopefully is a deep playoff run.”
SPASH took an early 7-3 lead before Marshfield had the first of its runs, scoring six straight points, to take a 9-7 lead following a timeout where Michaelis put in three reserves, including Elliott Ashbeck, who scored four points and grabbed a rebound after entering the game.
“The nice part of having some depth is you can roll some guys in and find a group that’s working well together,” Michaelis said.
Marshfield fell behind again in the second quarter as Barnes scored five points and Jackson Woyak hit a basket to give the Panthers a 16-13 lead. The Tigers again responded with a big run, outscoring SPASH 8-0 over the final 4:37 of the half to take a 21-16 lead.
Tigers 38, Panthers 31
SPASH 9 7 4 11 – 31
Marshfield 9 12 9 8 – 38
SPASH (31): Brennan Nelson 1-2 0-0 2, Clay Giese 0-6 0-0 0, Jackson Woyak 1-2 0-0 2, Josh Barnes 5-15 0-0 12, Cody Griffith 3-7 0-0 6, Tanner Kolbeck 1-2 0-0 2, Brad Stroik 1-8 1-2 3, Dylan McHugh 1-4 2-2 4. FG: 13-44. FT: 3-9. 3-pointers: 2-14 (Barnes 2-6, Giese 0-2, Griffith 0-3, Stroik 0-2, McHugh 0-1). Rebounds: 26 (Stroik 7). Turnovers: 9. Total fouls: 12. Fouled out: none. Record: 6-13, 3-6 Wisconsin Valley.
MARSHFIELD (38): Sully Luepke 2-6 3-4 7, Elliott Ashbeck 2-4 0-0 4, Ryan Danczak 1-7 1-2 4, Steve Boehning 0-0 0-0 0, Cale Zuiker 3-5 1-2 8, Ben Johnson 0-1 0-2 0, Antoine Brown-Hainz 2-6 2-2 6, Jake Scheppler 3-5 0-0 6, Dustin Thumann 0-1 3-4 3, Jon Bauer 0-2 0-0 0. FG: 13-38. FT: 10-16. 3-pointers: 2-4 (Zuiker 1-1, Danczak 1-1, Luepke 0-1, Ashbeck 0-1). Rebounds: 33 (Thumann 10, Zuiker 5). Turnovers: 12. Total fouls: 13. Fouled out: none. Record: 13-5, 8-2 Wisconsin Valley.
Video highlights of the Tigers’ win at allmarshfield.com
