See the final 18 seconds of the game, and Bryan Halambeck’s game-winning half-court shot here
This story is sponsored by Total Electric
By Paul Lecker
MarshfieldAreaSports.com
MARSHFIELD – The up and down saga that is the Marshfield boys basketball team’s season continued Friday night as the Tigers lost in heartbreaking fashion.
D.C. Everest sophomore Bryan Halambeck knocked home a shot from just past half court to lift the Evergreens to a 67-64 victory in a Wisconsin Valley Conference game at Marshfield High School.
Marshfield trailed for much of the final 6½ minutes before rallying to tie the game late.
Following a basket by Josh Peterson that put the Evergreens up 64-60 with 1:21 to go, Grant Urban and Seth Anderson each made two free throws for Marshfield to tie the game.
D.C. Everest (9-7, 6-3 Wisconsin Valley Conference) was called for a double-dribble with 18.1 seconds left to give the Tigers what they thought would be the final possession of the game.
Anderson missed a shot with three seconds left, Ethan Stroik rebounded and kicked out to a streaking Halambeck, who drilled the desperation 3-pointer as the buzzer sounded to give D.C. Everest the victory.
Halambeck finished with a game-high 34 points. Anderson led Marshfield (8-9, 6-4 Wisconsin Valley Conference) with 30 points and eight rebounds.
“The things we did at Merrill (in a 77-70 victory on Tuesday), we didn’t do here,” Marshfield coach Scott Scheuer said. “We missed free throws and we had 13 turnovers in the first half.
“We didn’t stop the ball. One guy (Halambeck) pretty much could do whatever he wanted. We tried three different guys on him.”
Marshfield led 12-4 early after a 3-pointer by Brant Bohman before Everest put up 10-straight points to take the lead.
The lead changed hands five times before Everest pulled out to a 40-37 halftime lead after Halambeck scored on three-straight possessions, and John Reigel made a 3-pointer with 8 seconds to go for Marshfield.
The lead went back-and-forth six times as neither team led by than three during the first 11 minutes of the second half.
Back-to-back 3-pointers by Halambeck and Ethan Ostrowski gave the Evergreens a 61-57 lead with 5:15 remaining.
Marshfield didn’t score a basket from the field in the final 9:25, but stayed in the game scoring nine points on 14 attempts at the free throw line. Those misses, however, proved costly.
“You have to take care of the little things,” Scheuer said. “It wasn’t the last shot, it was the missed free throws, the turnovers, and the empty possessions that we had before that.”
Marshfield will play a nonconference game at Mosinee on Tuesday.
Evergreens 67, Tigers 64
D.C. Everest 40 27 – 67
Marshfield 37 27 – 64
D.C. EVEREST (67): Sam Nielson 2-5 0-0 5, Ethan Bloemers 0-2 0-0 0, Ethan Ostrowski 6-8 0-0 16, Ethan Stroik 2-9 1-4 6, Bryan Halambeck 13-22 6-12 34, Alex Langseth 0-3 2-2 2, Jacob Carlson 1-1 0-0 2, Josh Peterson 1-3 0-0 2, Alec Stuedemann 0-1 0-0 0. FG: 25-52. FT: 9-18. 3-pointers: 8-19 (Ostrowski 4-5, Halambeck 2-6, Stroik 1-3, Nielson 1-3, Bloemers 0-1, Stuedemann 0-1). Rebounds: 27 (Ostrowski 9). Turnovers: 14. Fouls: 24. Fouled out: Langseth. Record: 9-7, 6-3 Wisconsin Valley Conference.
MARSHFIELD (64): Isaac Meverden 2-3 0-2 6, Brant Bohman 3-9 1-1 9, Tommy Olson 1-1 3-4 5, Reed Miller 0-5 3-6 3, Seth Anderson 9-23 10-12 30, Preston Wagner 0-0 0-0 0, Anthony Posteluk 0-0 0-0 0, John Reigel 1-1 0-0 3, Grant Urban 1-2 6-8 6. FG: 17-44. FT: 23-33. 3-pointers: 7-19 (Anderson 2-5, Bohman 2-8, Meverden 2-3, Reigel 1-1, Miller 0-2). Rebounds: 35 (Anderson 8, Meverden 7, Urban 7). Turnovers: 21. Fouls: 18. Fouled out: none. Record: 8-9, 6-4 Wisconsin Valley Conference.