This story is sponsored by Victory Apparel
By Paul Lecker
MarshfieldAreaSports.com
MARSHFIELD – For 27 minutes, the Marshfield boys basketball team survived some sloppy play with efficient shooting to build a double-digit lead.
However, once the shooting went cold, the turnovers continued for the Tigers and they couldn’t hold on to their big lead.
Merrill ended the game on a 16-3 run to defeat Marshfield 57-55 on Tuesday at Marshfield High School.
Halfway through the second half, the Tigers were 20-for-27 from the field and despite 14 turnovers they had built a 52-41 lead with 9:05 to go in the game.
Merrill turned the tables in a hurry, scoring the next 14 points. Jacob Butler had a 3-pointers, Nathan Woller converted a three-point play, Butler scored on a steal and layup, Jake Zelinski drilled another long ball, and Trenton Lokemoen had another three-point play for the Bluejays, who took a 56-52 lead with 3:26 to go.
Carson Kvernen made his third 3-pointer of the game to stop the bleeding for Marshfield and tie the game at 55-55 with 2:54 left. However, that was the Tigers’ only basket in the final 9 minutes.
Woller scored on the Bluejays’ next possession with 1:55 to go and neither team scored the rest of the way.
Marshfield made just one of its final seven shot attempts and turned the ball over five times in the last eight minutes.
Marshfield had a chance to win it at the end, but a desperation 3-pointer from Matt Donovan was off.
Kvernen finished with 15 points and five rebounds, Gavin Fravert had 11 points, and Sam Roherty had nine points and nine rebounds for Marshfield, which drops to 2-7 overall and 2-4 in the Wisconsin Valley Conference.
Lokemoen led Merrill (4-3, 3-2 WVC) with 17 points and Woller had 14 in the win.
Marshfield returns to action Friday at D.C. Everest.
Bluejays 57, Tigers 55
Merrill 29 28 – 57
Marshfield 34 21 – 55
MERRILL (57): Nathan Woller 6-9 1-1 14, Timmy Handlin 2-3 0-0 6, Cory Gigl 0-0 0-0 0, Jacob Butler 2-3 0-0 5, Isaac Sutton 2-11 2-4 7, Jake Zelinski 3-5 0-0 8, Cayden Diels 0-1 0-0 0, Michael McRae 0-0 0-0 0, Trenton Lokemoen 6-13 4-4 17. FG: 21-45. FT: 7-9. 3-pointers: 7-17 (Handlin 2-3, Zelinski 2-4, Butler 1-1, Woller 1-3, Lokemoen 1-5, Diels 0-1). Rebounds: 20 (Woller 5). Turnovers: 12. Fouls: 15. Fouled out: none. Record: 4-3, 3-2 Wisconsin Valley Conference.
MARSHFIELD (55): Wyatt LeMoine 0-0 0-0 0, Chase Hinson 2-2 0-0 5, Sam Roherty 4-8 1-3 9, Gavin Fravert 4-5 0-0 11, Carson Kvernen 6-8 0-0 15, Will Nikolai 0-0 0-0 0, Matt Trulen 0-0 0-0 0, Austin Sommer 1-3 1-2 3, Matt Donovan 1-4 2-2 4, Jack Nordbeck 3-4 1-3 8. FG: 21-34. FT: 5-10. 3-pointers: 8-14 (Kvernen 3-4, Fravert 3-4, Hinson 1-1, Nordbeck 1-1, Roherty 0-2, Donovan 0-2). Rebounds: 22 (Roherty 9). Turnovers: 19. Fouls: 14. Fouled out: none. Record: 2-7, 2-4 Wisconsin Valley Conference.