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By Paul Lecker
MarshfieldAreaSports.com
SPENCER – For three quarters, Spencer shot the ball at a 50 percent clip, made eight 3-pointers and found itself in a tight game with Augusta.
Over the next 7 1/2 minutes, however, the Rockets couldn’t buy a basket and Augusta pulled away in the process.
Spencer made just 1 of 10 shots during a 19-7 run by the Beavers and Augusta closed out a 63-54 Cloverbelt Conference East Division boys basketball victory Friday night at Spencer High School.
Augusta made 11 straight free throws, including eight in a row by Matthew Grunewald, over the final 2:03. A three-point play by Scott Halvorson started a 9-0 run by the Beavers, who pulled away to an 11-point lead.
Grunewald finished with a game-high 21 points, and Joe Whalen and Scott Halvorson each added 16 for the Beavers.
“I give my kids a lot of credit, they played with a lot of intensity tonight,” Spencer coach Randy Reckner said. “We knew coming into this game it was going to be a battle. Augusta is probably one of the top two teams in the conference right now so we knew we would have our hands full. A lot kids stepped up and made some big plays and it made for a good night of basketball.”
Neither team held more than a three-point lead in the first half as there were seven ties and 11 lead changes during the first 16 minutes.
Sophomore Joe Meyers made three 3-pointers over the final 3:31, including one just before the buzzer, and Wyatt Phillips added another from long range to give the Rockets a 25-22 lead at the break.
Spencer built a 34-27 lead 3 minutes into the third quarter behind five points from Phillips and baskets by Steven Gilboy and Sam Cattanach.
Augusta responded with a 7-0 run and the Beavers’ Matthew Grunewald and Gilboy for Spencer exchanged 3-pointers in the final 30 seconds of the third quarter and the Rockets led 41-40 heading into the fourth.
Phillips’ basket 1 minute into the quarter tied the game at 43-43, but that was the last Spencer hoop for more than 6 minutes and Augusta was able to pull away.
Halvorson scored at the 3:35 mark to push a small Augusta lead to 50-45 and after three Spencer free throws closed the game, Halvorson’s three-point play ignited the final 13-6 run to close the game.
Phillips and Meyers had 3-pointers in the final 17 seconds for Spencer but it never got closer than seven. Philips scored 15 points and Meyers had 13 for the Rockets, who made 10 of 19 3-pointers, but was just 2 of 9 in the fourth quarter.
“We’re suiting up nine right now and we’ll be back at 10 next week and those kids are awesome,” Reckner said. “They work hard every night in practice and they all have a role on the team. I’ve been playing some sophomores and they’ve been contributing a lot, along with the seniors.”
Reckner said he likes his team’s chances this season to compete for a top spot in the Cloverbelt East.
“I really think we’re going to be in the mix of it,” Reckner said. “It is a loss, but our conference this year is so balanced that I don’t think any team is going to go unscathed. Teams are going to have a couple of losses. We need to take care of what we do. There’s a lot of good teams and we’re going to be in a battle.”
Beavers 63, Rockets 54
Augusta 12 10 18 23 – 63
Spencer 12 13 16 13 – 54
AUGUSTA (63): Matthew Grunewald 4-10 9-10 21, Joe Whalen 5-14 5-8 16, Scott Halvorson 7-14 2-3 16, Casey Reetz 2-5 0-0 4, Bradley Grunewald 1-2 0-0 3, Aaron Herrick 1-1 0-0 3, Kyle Berlin 0-0 0-0 0. FG: 20-46. FT: 16-21. 3-pointers: 7-12 (M. Grunewald 4-6, Whalen 1-3, B. Grunewald 1-2, Herrick 1-1). Rebounds: 22 (Halvorson 11). Turnovers: 13. Fouls: 18. Fouled out: none. Record: 3-0, 2-0 Cloverbelt Conference East Division.
SPENCER (54): Wyatt Phillips 6-13 0-0 15, Joe Meyers 4-7 1-2 13, Steven Gilboy 3-7 2-4 9, Jordan Buss 2-5 0-2 6, Sam Cattanach 2-7 2-3 6, Adam Skreczkoski 2-2 0-0 4, Cody Esser 0-3 1-4 1, Jeremiah Cattanach 0-1 0-0 0. FG: 19-45. FT: 6-15. 3-pointers: 10-19 (Meyers 4-5, Phillips 3-7, Buss 2-5, Gilboy 1-1, J. Cattanach 0-1). Rebounds: 28 (Gilboy 8, S. Cattanach 7). Turnovers: 18. Fouls: 18. Fouled out: Phillips. Record: 1-1 overall and Cloverbelt East.