This story is sponsored by: All Insurance of Marshfield
By Paul Lecker
MarshfieldAreaSports.com
MARSHFIELD – The Marshfield boys basketball team has climbed back to the .500 mark and did so in impressive fashion.
An 11-4 run to start the second half put the Tigers up by double figures and they led by at least 10 points the rest of the way in beating Merrill 84-63 in a Wisconsin Valley Conference game Tuesday night at Marshfield High School.
The win is Marshfield’s second in a row and evens its record at 4-4 overall and puts them at 2-1 in the WVC. Merrill drops to 3-3 and 2-1 in conference play.
Seth Anderson scored 30 points and Reed Miller added 20 for the Tigers.
“I thought our defense was solid,” Marshfield coach Scott Scheuer said. “They (Merrill) have a lot of experience. They got in some foul trouble, and so did we. This is a bigger win than just a conference win, because they are in our sectional now. That’s a quality win for us.”
Marshfield used a 7-0 run to take a 17-10 lead 7½ minutes into the game, and led the rest of the way.
Anderson scored 12 of the Tigers’ final 14 points of the first half and Marshfield led 39-33 at the break.
After a basket by Quinn Steckbauer to start the half for Merrill, Marshfield ripped off an 11-2 run highlighted by six points from Anderson and a 3-point by sophomore guard Anthony Posteluk, to push its lead to 50-37.
Merrill came as close as 10 on two occasions before the Tigers blew the game open.
A 7-0 run ended with a three-point play by Miller, and Marshfield made all 14 of its free throws in the second half, including six straight from Posteluk in the final 2 minutes.
“Hopefully we’re starting to get in the mode where we play a certain way and we don’t look at ‘we play this team or we play that team’,” Scheuer said. “We have to play at that ‘10’ level every night. We’ve been doing some things in practice to try to simulate that, but you really can’t do that, you just hope it carries over to the game.
“A lot of times you are happy with the effort but not the performance, it doesn’t always match, but tonight it matched.”
Marshfield plays a nonconference game at Eau Claire North on Thursday before a 12-day break during the holidays. The Tigers’ next home game is Jan. 2 against Rhinelander.
Tigers 84, Bluejays 63
Merrill 33 30 – 63
Marshfield 39 45 – 84
MERRILL (63): Kade Bonnell 0-0 0-1 0, Logan Bennett 0-0 0-0 0, Quinn Steckbauer 3-6 9-10 15, Zach Mootz 6-15 4-6 20, Cody Lemmer 0-0 0-0 0, Nate Grefe 0-0 4-4 4, Brant Raleigh 0-1 0-0 0, Michael Casper 2-3 1-2 7, Tyler Baade 0-0 0-0 0, Chase Bonnell 4-7 2-3 12, Jared Ollhoff 2-7 1-2 5, Caleb Timm 0-1 0-0 0, Kordell Renken 0-0 0-0 0. FG: 17-40. FT: 21-28. 3-pointers: 8-22 (Mootz 4-9, Casper 2-3, C. Bonnell 2-5, Steckbauer 0-3, Ollhoff 0-2). Rebounds: 21 (Steckbauer 5). Turnovers; 13. Fouls: 22. Fouled out: none. Record: 3-3, 2-1 Wisconsin Valley Conference.
MARSHFIELD (84): Issac Meverden 1-1 2-2 4, Brant Bohman 4-7 2-3 11, Tommy Olson 1-1 0-0 3, Reed Miller 7-17 3-3 20, Seth Anderson 11-21 7-10 30, Sam Hinson 0-0 0-0 0, Preston Wagner 0-0 0-0 0, Anthony Posteluk 2-3 6-6 11, John Reigel 1-1 0-0 3, Cody Korth 0-0 0-0 0, Grant Urban 1-2 0-0 2. FG: 28-53. FT: 20-24. 3-pointers: 8-19 (Miller 3-9, Olson 1-1, Reigel 1-1, Posteluk 1-2, Anderson 1-3, Bohman 1-3). Rebounds: 30 (Miller 7). Turnovers: 10. Fouls: 22. Fouled out: none. Record: 4-4, 2-1 Wisconsin Valley Conference.