This story is sponsored by Forward Financial Bank
By Paul Lecker
MarshfieldAreaSports.com
MARSHFIELD – Marshfield used a 17-2 run in the first half to pull ahead played tough defense throughout to coast past Hudson 57-38 in a WIAA Division 1 boys basketball regional semifinal Friday night at Marshfield High School.
Alex Strege scored all 11 of his points in the first half, making 3 of 3 from 3-point range and throwing down a dunk on a fast break to spark the Tigers.
Luke Zuiker led Marshfield with 16 points, Matt Oestreich added 13 and Luke Olson scored 10.
The Tigers (13-10) move on to a Division 1 regional final at D.C. Everest (16-7) on Saturday at 7 p.m. Everest downed Wausau East 40-32 in a regional semifinal on Friday.
During the regular season, D.C. Everest swept a pair of games from Marshfield, winning 46-31 on Dec. 14 and 47-28 on Feb. 1.
Marshfield trailed 6-4 early before a big run separated them from the Raiders.
Strege and Luke Zuiker hit 3-pointers and Luke Olson scored a basket as the Tigers closed out the first quarter on an 8-0 run.
Marshfield continued the run, scoring nine of the first 11 points in the second quarter, pulling out to a 21-8 lead.
“The first half, we did what we wanted to do defensively,” Marshfield coach Bill Zuiker, who picked up his first playoff win. “We were very aggressive.”
Strege had a dunk and two more 3-pointers to help the Tigers take a 29-16 lead into halftime.
Hudson cut Marshfield’s lead to 33-27 after Alex Harink made three free throws with 4:21 left in the third.
From there, the Tigers outscored Hudson 22-11 the rest of the way.
Oestreich and Zuiker hit back-to-back 3-pointers to quickly put the Tigers back up by double digits.
Hudson didn’t score over the final 3:17 in the fourth quarter as the Tigers made six straight free throws.
“We didn’t lose control and hit a couple of shots when it mattered,” Bill Zuiker said. “That was big for us, especially in the first half, getting second opportunities. A lot of times, you’re not going to come down with it and go back up against their big kids – we just threw it back out and got back to work with our offense.”
Tigers 57, Raiders 38
Hudson 6 10 18 4 – 38
Marshfield 12 17 16 12 – 57
HUDSON (38): Joe Kelly 2-4 0-0 5, Marques Kneeland 0-1 0-0 0, Alex Newell 1-4 0-0 3, Matthew Sparstad 1-6 1-1 3, Ben Koch 0-0 0-0 0, Dan Kelly 0-0 1-2 1, Lucas Traynor 0-0 0-0 0, Miles Lews 1-2 0-0 2, Alex Herink 7-13 7-12 22, Stef Smith 1-4 0-0 2, Jordan Belanger 0-3 0-0 0. FG: 13-37. FT: 9-15. 3-pointers: 3-15 (J. Kelly 1-2, Newell 1-3, Herink 1-5, Sparstad 0-2, Smith 0-3). Rebounds: 19 (Herink 8). Turnovers: 12. Fouls: 18. Fouled out: none. Record: 8-15.
MARSHFIELD (57): Jeff Allison 0-0 0-0 0, Kegan Fassler 0-0 0-0 0, Zach Shortess 0-0 0-0 0, Jordan Schlinsog 0-0 0-0 0, Isaac Accola 0-4 0-0 0, Tanner Boson 0-0 0-0 0, Matt Oestreich 5-9 2-2 13, Luke Zuiker 6-12 2-5 16, Caleb Alexander 0-1 1-2 1, Luke Olson 3-10 2-2 10, Tanner Dennis-Brown 1-3 2-2 4, Alex Strege 4-9 0-0 11, Mitch Ott 0-0 0-0 0, Will Spindler 0-0 0-0 0, Jace Krasselt 0-1 2-2 2. FG: 19-49. FT: 11-15. 3-pointers: 8-17 (Strege 3-3, Olson 2-5, Zuiker 2-3, Oestreich 1-4, Accola 0-1, Krasselt 0-1). Rebounds: 31 (Zuiker 7). Turnovers: 11. Fouls: 11. Fouled out: none. Record: 13-10.