This story is sponsored by: Trudeau Construction and The Tile Guys
By Paul Lecker
MarshfieldAreaSports.com
MARSHFIELD – Marshfield was out for vengeance Friday night against Stevens Point Area Senior High and it showed from the start.
The Tigers made nine of their first 10 shots, opened up a double-digit lead in the first quarter and never relinquished it, whipping SPASH 67-50 in a Wisconsin Valley Conference boys basketball showdown Friday night at the Marshfield High School Fieldhouse. Marshfield avenges a 52-48 loss at Stevens Point on Dec. 16.
Marshfield used a 10-0 run over the final 2:32 of the first quarter and first 2 minutes of the second to open up a 25-11 lead. SPASH got no closer than 11 the rest of the way.
Elliot Ashbeck scored 27 points and grabbed 15 rebounds for the Tigers, who improve to 11-5 overall and 7-2 in the Wisconsin Valley Conference. With the win, Marshfield opens up a two-game lead over Stevens Point for second place in the conference. The Tigers remain two games behind first-place D.C. Everest, whom Marshfield plays on the road next Friday.
Marshfield hosts a nonconference game against Baraboo at 3 p.m. Saturday and plays on the road at Lakeland on Tuesady.
Stevens Point drops to 9-8 and 5-4 in the WVC.
After SPASH ended Marshfield’s 10-0 run midway through the second quarter, the Tigers scored the next eight points and 11 of the final 13 in the period. Ashbeck scored seven of his 27 in the run, including a 3-pointer that gave the Tigers a 36-15 lead at the break.
“I thought we got good shots in the first half, our execution was really good and we shot it well. It makes your offense look pretty efficient when you’re making everything you’re shooting,” Marshfield coach Craig Michaelis said. “It was as good of a half as we’ve had without a doubt. We put both ends of the floor together.
“We had some guys come in and play some big minutes and play really well. Matt Oestreich came in and gave us a big boost, Isaac Accola came in and gave us a nice boost off the bench and Adam Voss did a really nice job as well. When you can have that, that’s how good teams operate. We called their numbers and they were ready to go.”
SPASH put together a 12-3 run to start the third quarter, cutting the Tigers’ lead to 12. Following three free throws by Eric Zelhofer, the Panthers were withing 11 at 41-30 with 1:47 to go in the quarter, but Marshfield survived the run and Ashbeck scored five of the final six points of the quarter to push the Tigers’ lead back to 17 at 47-30.
The Panthers got no closer than 15 the rest of the way.
“That’s too good of a team not to have a run,” Michaelis said. “I said you’re going to have to withstand something at some point in the second half. They’re going to get a couple of shots to go in a row, they’re going to crank up their pressure, and you’re going to have to withstand that, and I thought we did for the most part.
“I thought we had a really crucial possession on our end offensively where we ended up going to the line three times and scored four points, had several offensive rebounds and I think that was really the one that took the momentum back in our favor and we really ran from there.”
Ben Satter added 13 points and seven rebounds for the Tigers, making six of seven shots from the field. Isaac Accola scored eight points off the bench.
Tigers 67, Panthers 50
Stevens Point 11 4 15 20 – 50
Marshfield 21 15 11 20 – 67
STEVENS POINT (50): Zach Durkee 0-0 0-0 0, Caleb Finn 4-9 0-0 8, Ryan Hofmeister 4-13 0-0 9, Eric Zelhofer 2-8 3-4 8, Joey Hahn 0-0 0-0 0, Alex Wuest 0-0 0-0 0, Jackson Woyak 3-3 2-3 9, James Gollon 0-1 0-0 0, Ryan Sullivan 1-4 2-2 5, Sean Van Helden 0-6 0-0 0, Jon Wuest 1-4 0-0 3, Jake Graboski 2-3 2-2 6, Bobby Diekelman 0-1 2-2 2. FG: 17-52. FT: 11-13. 3-pointers: 5-20 (Hofmeister 1-3, Zelhofer 1-5, Woyak 1-1, Sullivan 1-1, J. Wuest 1-4, Van Helden 0-1, Gollon 0-1, Finn 0-4). Rebounds: 17 (Van Helden 4). Trunvoers: 5. Fouls: 11. Fouled out: none. Record: 9-8, 5-4 Wisconsin Valley Conference.
MARSHFIELD (67): Luke Olson 0-2 3-4 3, Elliot Ashbeck 11-16 4-5 27, Kole Oppman 0-0 0-0 0, Mack Scheppler 1-3 0-0 2, Isaac Accola 4-5 0-0 8, Matt Oestreich 0-1 0-0 0, Luke Zuiker 2-5 3-4 7, Adam Voss 1-4 0-0 3, Tanner Dennis-Brown 0-0 0-0 0, Brandon Brown 1-1 2-3 4, Alex Arendt 0-0 0-0 0, Ben Satter 6-7 1-1 13. FG: 26-40. FT: 13-17. 3-pointers: 2-8 (Ashbeck 1-1, Voss 1-3, Olson 0-2, Zuiker 0-1, Scheppler 0-1). Rebounds: 36 (Ashbeck 15). Turnovers: 11. Fouls: 14. Fouled out: none. Record: 11-5, 7-2 Wisconsin Valley Conference.
Click this link to view Wisconsin Valley Conference boys basketball standings