This story is sponsored by: WDLB-AM 1450 and WOSQ-FM 92.3 radio
By Paul Lecker
MarshfieldAreaSports.com
AUBURNDALE – Momentum is tough to quantify, but during Thursday’s Marawood Conference South Division boys basketball game between Marathon and Auburndale, it was quite evident.
Blake Anderson drilled a 3-pointer just before the second quarter buzzer to give Auburndale a one-point lead, and from the Apaches seized all momentum and rolled in the second half to a 69-43 victory over Marathon at Auburndale High School.
Auburndale outscored Marathon 23-3 over the final 4:30 of the first half and first 4:37 of the second half to blow open what was a tight game over the final 12 minutes.
Austin Hawkins scored 16 of his game-high 24 points in the second half and Anderson added three 3-pointers and 14 points in all for Auburndale, which clinches its third straight Marawood South championship with the victory.
Auburndale remains undefeated, moving to 19-0 overall and 12-0 in the Marawood South. Marathon drops to 16-3 and 9-3 in the conference.
“On the offensive end, we didn’t execute,” Auburndale coach Chad Weinfurter said of the first half. “We weren’t screening and cutting, we were standing around a lot. We talked about it at halftime, picking up our effort a little bit, and the kids really responded.”
Auburndale led 5-0 early and Marathon eventually took a four-point lead early in the second quarter before the Raiders went cold.
Auburndale’s Matt Nikolay and Marathon’s Collin Seubert exchanged 3-pointers as the lead see-sawed before Anderson’s 3-pointer in the final seconds put the Apaches up 23-22 at halftime.
Hawkins said despite being ahead by one, the Apaches weren’t happy with their performance in the first half.
“Great teams, at this time of the year, execute, and we didn’t do that in the first half,” Hawkins said. “Coach had a couple of choice words, rightfully so, we didn’t come out with the energy and mental focus that we needed. I thought we really picked it up, really buckled down, and focused on the little things.”
Marathon didn’t sniff the lead again.
Auburndale made nine of 11 shots in the third quarter, including all three of its 3-point attempts. The Apaches scored the first 15 points of the third quarter as Marathon turned the ball over four times and missed three shot attempts.
Isaac Castellano matched Anderson’s first-half buzzer-beater with one of his own from 3-point range to put Auburndale up 49-29 at the end of third.
“We were breaking some of our rules defensively that we talk about,” Weinfurter said. “There wasn’t any rocket science – I didn’t draw up special up on the board or anything like that – we just talked about execution.”
The Apaches led by as much as 28 in the fourth quarter. In all, Auburndale was 24 of 36 from the field, including 14 of 18 in the second half – a near perfect finish to another conference championship season.
“For me and Ben (fellow senior Ben Bolder), it means a lot,” Hawkins said. “We worked really hard to get here. A lot of hours in the summer in the weight room, getting up shots in the gym, and pushing ourselves in practice every day.”
Auburndale wraps up its Marawood South schedule next week with home games Monday against Stratford and Thursday against Wausau Newman Catholic. The game against Stratford begins at 7:30 p.m. and will be broadcast on WOSQ-FM 92.3 and wdlbwosq.com.
Apaches 69, Raiders 43
Marathon 11 11 7 14 – 43
Auburndale 9 14 26 20 – 69
MARATHON (43): Collin Seubert 7-14 0-1 17, Xavier Lechleitner 0-0 0-0 0, Nathan Martin 0-0 0-0 0, Jake Dinkel 2-2 0-0 4, Alex Stanek 0-0 1-2 1, Vince Dinkel 3-6 5-8 11, Ross Wokatsch 2-3 0-0 4, Ethan Seubert 1-4 0-0 2, Zack Furger 0-0 0-0 0, Cole Glassford 0-2 0-0 0, Matthew Haehlke 2-3 0-0 4. FG: 17-34. FT: 6-11. 3-pointers: 3-9 (Seubert 3-7, V. Dinkel 0-2). Rebounds: 20 (V. Dinkel 6). Turnovers: 14. Fouls: 18. Fouled out: V. Dinkel. Record: 16-3, 9-3 Marawood South.
AUBURNDALE (69): Jake Lewis 0-0 0-0 0, Tom Sabel 1-1 2-3 4, Matt Nikolay 3-5 0-0 8, Blake Anderson 5-7 1-1 14, Isaac Castellano 1-1 2-3 5, Alex Marth 0-0 0-0 0, Matt Lang 0-0 0-0 0, Austin Hawkins 8-13 8-8 24, Ben Bolder 3-5 0-1 6, Josh VanShoick 0-0 2-2 2. FG: 24-36. FT: 15-20. 3-pointers: 6-11 (Anderson 3-5, Nikolay 2-4, Castellano 1-1, Hawkins 0-1). Rebounds: 20 (Hawkins 5). Turnovers: 10. Fouls: 15. Fouled out: none. Record: 19-0, 12-0 Marawood South.