This story is sponsored by Total Electric
By Paul Lecker
MarshfieldAreaSports.com
AUBURNDALE – The Auburndale boys basketball team is searching for consistency and a win over conference co-leader Stratford on Friday night might be what it needs to find it.
Auburndale made 17 of 25 free throws in the second half to hold off the Tigers 50-47 in a Marawood Conference South Division matchup at Auburndale High School.
The victory keeps the Apaches in contention for a conference title at the midway point of the season. Instead of being two games in back of Stratford, the Apaches are now in a four-way tie for first place, along with Stratford, Marathon and Wisconsin Rapids Assumption after the Royals topped Marathon 64-63 in overtime on Friday.
While Auburndale finished 20 of 29 at the free throw line, Stratford ended up just 7 of 23, which proved to be the difference.
“I thought our rebounding was good against a really good rebounding team, and I thought we took care of the ball well enough,” Auburndale coach Chad Weinfurter said. “They are as good of a defensive team as we play. Cooper’s (Weinfurter) play in the second half was huge and we got to the free throw line, and that’s what we wanted. We shot free throws better than them.”
Neither team mustered much offense in the first half as Auburndale took a 19-16 lead into the break.
Auburndale made 13 of 14 free throws in the opening 7½ minutes of the second half, including eight straight by Cooper Weinfurter, but couldn’t shake the Tigers.
Back-to-back 3-pointers from Stratford’s Teddy Redman tied the game at 32-32 with 9:53 to go
Auburndale responded with a 10-1 run, ending on a basket by Cason Schmutzer with 5:41 left.
Stratford had one more run in them. Chandler Schmidt, Lance Heidmann and Vaughn Breit brought the Tigers to within one at 45-44 with 2:07 remaining.
Cale Jacoby scored after an offensive rebound by Schmutzer, and the Apaches made three of six free throws in the final 37 seconds to hold on as Stratford missed two shots in the final 3 seconds, including a three-quarters court heave at the buzzer that hit the backboard before bouncing off.
Auburndale has now won four of its last five games since a loss at Edgar on Dec. 21.
“It’s our level of consistency, coming out ready to play,” Chad Weinfurter said. “It’s no disrespect to the teams we lost to, not saying they shouldn’t beat us, but we didn’t come out ready to play. We played Marathon and Stratford pretty tough here, but also played a really good Columbus team and came out flat and got our rear ends kicked in the first half.
“We’re slowly learning what it takes to be ready for every game and I’m hoping that carries us through the second half of the season.”
Weinfurter finshed with 15 points, Jacoby had 13, and Colten Yeske added 10 for Auburndale (9-3). Schmidt topped Stratford (10-2) with 13 points.
Apaches 50, Tigers 47
Stratford 16 31 – 47
Auburndale 19 31 – 50
STRATFORD (47): Chandler Schmidt 5-9 0-0 13, Okley Wrensch 1-7 0-0 3, Teddy Redman 2-7 0-2 6, Trent Heckel 0-3 0-0 0, Branden Ackley 2-2 0-0 4, Paul Huther 0-0 2-2 2, Vaughn Breit 4-8 1-13 10, Benjamin Barten 1-3 4-6 6, Lance Heidmann 1-4 0-0 3. FG: 16-43. FT: 7-23. 3-pointers: 8-22 (Schmidt 3-6, Redman 2-2, Wrensch 1-5, Breit 1-2, Heidmann 1-4, Heckel 0-3). Rebounds: 26 (Barten 11). Turnovers: 10. Fouls: 22. Fouled out: none. Record: 10-2, 6-2 Marawood Conference South Division.
AUBURNDALE (50): Cooper Weinfurter 3-8 9-10 15, Cale Jacoby 5-8 3-5 13, Cason Schmutzer 3-10 3-6 9, Fletcher Raab 0-0 0-0 0, Carter Wilcott 0-1 0-0 0, Aaron Marth 0-0 0-0 0, Colten Yeske 3-5 4-4 9, Cameron Ertl 1-5 1-4 3. FG: 15-37. FT: 20-29. 3-pointers: 0-6 (Ertl 0-3, Schmutzer 0-1, Wilcott 0-1, Weinfurter 0-1). Rebounds: 28 (Yeske 8). Turnovers: 15. Fouls: 13. Fouled out: none. Record: 9-3, 6-2 Marawood Conference South Division.