This story is sponsored by: All Insurance of Marshfield
By Paul Lecker
MarshfieldAreaSports.com
AUBURNDALE – The Stratford boys basketball team, ranked eighth in this week’s Division 3 Wissports.net State Coaches Poll, proved too much to handle for Auburndale on both ends of the court.
The Tigers held Auburndale to 32.5 percent shooting, had a 38-16 rebounding advantage, and pulled out a 62-46 victory in a battle of Marawood Conference South Division leaders on Friday night at Auburndale High School.
Stratford remains perfect this season, improving to 11-0 overall and 8-0 in the Marawood South. Auburndale falls to 10-2 and is now 7-1 in conference play.
Stratford held Auburndale’s top two scorers, Cooper Weinfurter and Colton Wright, to just 7 of 24 shooting, and 3 of 12 from 3-point range, as its quickness and constant movement on the defensive end set the tone for the game.
“The kids played hard and played well,” Stratford coach Curt Schmidt said. “It was a great team effort. I was a little worried going in. We had a different type of a week of practice because we had some kids nicked up from the Colby game (on Monday) and we rested them. It was good to see us play well together tonight.”
The game was tight through the first 12 minutes, with the lead changing hands eight times before Stratford started to pull away.
Auburndale had its biggest lead at 17-13 following baskets by Colton Wright and Hunter Wright, but went ice cold the rest of the half and the Tigers took advantage.
A 3-pointer by Lance Heidmann started a 13-0 run for Stratford as it went up nine.
Ben Barten had a three-point play and Vaughn Breit, who finished with a game-high 22 points, scored five points in a row to put the Tigers up 26-17.
Stratford took a 29-20 lead into halftime and didn’t let up, scoring the first seven points of the second half, capped by a 3-point from Breit, and led 36-20.
“I thought we worried about (Stratford’s height and athleticism) too much instead of just playing,” Auburndale coach Chad Weinfurter said. “Vaughn (Breit) was the difference maker. We’ve got to have somebody to hold him down a little bit when we are not shooting well. Our defense was just not good enough to keep us in it tonight.”
Auburndale could only get as close as 12 the rest of the way as Colton Wright had a 3-pointer and a three-point play, but the Apaches were unable to stop Stratford.
Okley Wrensch hit three 3-pointers in a 5-minute stretch, and Barten scored inside to push the lead up to 20. Barten finished with 16 points and 14 rebounds for the Tigers, while Wrensch had 12 on 4-for-4 shooting from 3-point range.
“The kids did a great job of seeing things, reading things, I couldn’t have been more proud of our effort,” Schmidt said.
Auburndale will look to regroup Tuesday at Wausau Newman Catholic as it starts the second half of its Marawood schedule.
“I think Stratford is the best team in the area, regardless of division,” Weinfurter said. “It was a good test for us to see where we are at. It’s only half way through the year. We’ve got to keep working and get better.”
Stratford’s next game is also Tuesday, at home against Wisconsin Rapids Assumption.
Tigers 62, Apaches 46
Stratford 29 33 – 62
Auburndale 20 26 – 46
STRATFORD (62): Teddy Redman 0-4 0-1 0, Max Vanderhoof 0-2 0-0 0, Okley Wrensch 4-4 0-0 12, Dawson Danen 0-0 0-0 0, Hunter Hannan 0-0 0-0 0, Chandler Schmidt 1-3 0-0 2, Branden Ackley 1-4 0-0 2, Sam Schoenfuss 1-1 0-0 2, Brady Bruesewitz 0-1 0-0 0, Vaughn Breit 7-14 7-11 22, Lance Heidmann 2-5 0-0 6, Ben Barten 6-10 4-4 16. FG: 22-48. FT: 11-16. 3-pointers: 7-21 (Wrensch 4-4, Heidmann 2-4, Breit 1-3, Bruesewitz 0-1, Schmidt 0-2, Redman 0-2, Vanderhoof 0-2, Ackley 0-3). Rebounds: 38 (Barten 14). Turnovers: 13. Fouls: 17. Fouled out: none. Record: 11-0, 8-0 Marawood Conference South Division.
AUBURNDALE (46): Cooper Weinfurter 2-11 5-8 10, Paul Kollross 0-0 0-0 0, Kaden Hoffman 0-1 3-5 3, Hunter Wright 1-3 0-0 2, Fletcher Raab 2-5 1-2 7, Cody Trowbridge 0-0 0-0 0, Jason Wilcox 0-1 0-0 0, Carter Wilcott 2-3 1-1 6, Aaron Marth 0-3 1-3 1, Dylan Paun 1-2 0-0 2, Schuyler Gilhausen 0-0 0-0 0, Colton Wright 5-13 1-1 13, A.J. Schertz 1-1 0-0 2. FG: 14-43. FT: 12-20. 3-pointers: 6-22 (C. Wright 2-6, Raab 2-5, Wilcott 1-2, Weinfurter 1-6, Hoffman 0-1, H. Wright 0-1, Wilcox 0-1). Rebounds: 16 (Weinfurter 3, Marth 3). Turnovers: 10. Fouls: 15. Fouled out: Wilcott. Record: 10-2, 7-1 Marawood Conference South Division.