MarshfieldAreaSports.com
SUPERIOR – The Marshfield boys basketball team overcame a 13-point second-half deficit to take a one-point lead with 2:30 left but Superior rallied with 10 straight points and went on to defeat the Tigers 63-56 in a WIAA Division 1 regional final Saturday at Superior High School.
The Tigers’ season ends with a record of 18-6, while Superior (20-3) moves on to a sectional semifinal against Merrill at Marshfield High School on Friday. Merrill beat Wausau West 48-46 on Saturday. Eau Claire North will play undefeated Antigo in the other semifinal, with the final at 7 p.m. next Saturday at Marshfield.
Ryan Danczak had a season-high 19 points, including four 3-pointers, for Marshfield before fouling out with a little more than 1 minute remaining.
After the Tigers took a 54-53 lead on a 3-pointer by Cale Zuiker, Superior scored the next 10 points – all from the free-throw line – to pull away. Marshfield didn’t make another shot until the final seconds.
Superior led 10-2 early before Marshfield started to find its touch. Danczak scored eight points in the second quarter and the Tigers closed to within six at 29-23 at halftime.
The Spartans took command again in the third quarter using a 9-0 run to go up 41-28 after a basket by Dustin Hobson and a pair of free throws by Joel Lindberg.
The Tigers put up a fight and responded with an 11-0 run keyed by a pair of offensive rebounds and baskets by Dustin Thumann and a three-point play by Elliott Ashbeck.
Zuiker hit his fifth 3-pointer of the game to give Marshfield a brief 54-53 lead with 2:30 left, but the Tigers couldn’t find a way to score again. Superior made 10 of 12 free throws over the final 2 minutes while holding the Tigers scoreless until a basket by Ashbeck with four seconds left.
Zuiker finished with 15 points for the Tigers. Ashbeck had nine points and Thumann added eight off the bench for Marshfield, which tied a school record set in the 1961-62 season for most victories in a season with 18.
Superior’s Joel Lindberg led all scorers with 23 points, including 12 of 16 free throws.
Spartans 63, Tigers 56
Marshfield 9 14 16 17 – 56
Superior 15 14 13 21 – 63
MARSHFIELD (56): Sully Luepke 0, Elliott Ashbeck 9, Ryan Danczak 19, Cale Zuiker 15, Ben Johnson 2, Antoine Brown-Hainz 1, Jake Scheppler 2, Dustin Thumann 8. 3-pointers: 9 (Zuiker 5, Danczak 4). Record: 18-6.
SUPERIOR (63): Zach Colvin 4, Rob Kraft 12, Andy Heytens 1, Dustin Hobson 4, Joel Lindberg 23, Jake Turkowski 4, Mike LaValley 0, Josh Kimmes 15. 3-pointers: 4 (Kraft 3, Lindberg 1). Record: 20-3.
