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By Paul Lecker
MarshfieldAreaSports.com
MARSHFIELD – Luke Zuiker hit a 3-pointer at the first-quarter buzzer and Marshfield never trailed after that, going on to a 67-57 win over Wausau East in a Wisconsin Valley Conference boys basketball game Friday night at The Boson Company Fieldhouse at Marshfield High School.
Marshfield won its second straight game and improves to 13-5 overall and 8-2 in the Wisconsin Valley Conference. East is now 9-7 and 3-6 in the conference.
Zuiker’s 3-pointer put Marshfield on top 17-15 after a back-and-forth first quarter.
East tied the game early in the second before Marshfield pushed ahead 25-19 after a 3-pointer from Tanner Boson. The Lumberjacks cut the lead to as few as one, following a three-point play by Bryce Widmark at the 3:17 mark, but Marshfield responded again by scoring the final six points of the half. Alex Strege’s rebound and basket at the buzzer put Marshfield on top 39-31 at the break.
While Marshfield played a solid game, making seven 3-pointers and only turning the ball over seven times, coach Bill Zuiker said he is hoping the Tigers can show more consistency with their intensity, especially on the defensive end.
“It was a tug-of-war with ourselves tonight,” Bill Zuiker said. “The thing with kids is that they can get it in their head how hard they have to play. We beat East pretty handily there earlier in the year. I tell the kids, ‘Don’t be human.’ It’s very human to have an attitude like that, but you have to fight that. Somehow you have to find that reserve. It’s difficult to do, but the best teams do that.”
Matt Oestreich scored all 16 of his points in the first half. Strege finished with a team-high 19 points and 13 rebounds, and Zuiker had 16 points and seven rebounds for Marshfield. The 67 points put up by the Tigers were one off their season-high.
East got no closer than five in the second half. Two free throws by Bryce Taylor, who had 15 points for East, make it 54-49 with 5:21 remaining.
Marshfield responded with a basket by Boson and Jordan Schlinsog grabbed a loose ball that led to a layup by Boson later in the quarter that sparked a mini 5-0 run to push the lead up to 11 with 1:34 to go. Marshfield made six straight free throws over the final 1:09 to ice it.
“I thought we played with decent energy, but I don’t think we were very smart defensively,” Bill Zuiker said. “We didn’t help very well in the post in the first half. In the second half, it was kind of a half-way game. I thought the biggest play of the game was Jordan Schlinsog diving on the floor and getting a breakaway layup that sort of sealed it. I didn’t think we were bad, but we were in between, therefore, we were bad. You have to be all-in defensively.”
Marshfield is off until next Friday when it plays at Wisconsin Rapids as part of a girls-boys doubleheader. Both games will be broadcast on WDLB-AM 1450 and wdlbwosq.com. The girls game starts at 6 p.m. with the boys to follow at approximately 7:45 p.m.
Tigers 67, Lumberjacks 57
Wausau East 15 16 13 13 – 57
Marshfield 17 22 13 15 – 67
WAUSAU EAST (57): Bryce Taylor 2-8 10-12 15, Tanner Dimka 1-2 0-0 3, Jaden Rutkowski 3-7 0-1 9, Louis Nass 0-0 0-0 0, Trenton Pate 4-9 1-1 10, Suan Wilson 1-2 0-0 2, Bryce Widmark 5-10 2-2 12, Zang Chang 0-0 2-3 2, JP Lacy 2-5 0-0 4. FG: 18-43. FT: 15-19. 3-pointers: 6-19 (Rutkowski 3-7, Pate 1-3, Taylor 1-5, Dimka 1-2, Widmark 0-2). Rebounds: 25 (Wilson 5, Widmark 5). Turnovers: 7. Fouls: 20. Fouled out: none. Record: 9-7, 3-6 Wisconsin Valley Conference.
MARSHFIELD (67): Jeff Allison 0-3 2-2 2, Jace Krasselt 0-1 0-0 0, Luke Zuiker 6-13 2-4 16, Tanner Boson 3-5 2-3 9, Matt Oestreich 5-14 4-6 16, Will Spindler 0-0 0-0 0, Kegan Fassler 0-2 0-0 0, Jordan Schlinsog 1-2 3-4 5, Alex Strege 8-12 1-2 19. FG: 23-52. FT: 14-21. 3-pointers: 7-18 (Strege 2-5, Oestreich 2-3, Zuiker 2-4, Boson 1-2, Allison 0-2, Krasselt 0-1, Schlinsog 0-1). Rebounds: 31 (Strege 13). Turnovers: 7. Fouls: 16. Fouled out: Zuiker. Record: 13-5, 8-2 Wisconsin Valley Conference.