This story is sponsored by: Chips Hamburgers of Marshfield and Wisconsin Rapids
By Paul Lecker
MarshfieldAreaSports.com
AUBURNDALE – Stratford looked poised to pull off an upset on the road, leading for nearly the entire first half against Auburndale, but two cold stretches in the second half proved to be the Tigers’ downfall.
Alex Willfahrt made five 3-pointers in the second half and the Eagles closed the game on an 18-6 run to pull out a 60-47 win in a Marawood Conference South Division boys basketball game Tuesday night at Auburndale High School.
Auburndale moves to 14-2 overall and 9-2 in the Marawood South, keeping pace with conference leaders Marathon and Wausau Newman Catholic, which both have one conference loss.
On top of the hot 3-point shooting, Trayton Weber pulled down 11 rebounds as Auburndale finished with a 35-23 advantage on the boards, that playing without one of its key inside players in Mason White Eagle.
“They missed shots and we made shots, sometimes it’s just as simple as that,” Auburndale coach Chad Weinfurter said. “The whole game, we rebounded well. That was something we were really worried about coming into the game was Stratford’s offensive rebounding. That was a big key.”
Braeden Schueller made a basket and a 3-pointer to help Stratford build a quick 10-3 advantage to start the game and the Tigers held the lead for the rest of the first half.
Auburndale closed to within 17-14 after a three-point play from Willfahrt before Stratford opened up its lead again, pulling ahead by nine after a 3-pointer from Ashton Wrensch and a free throw in the final minute of the half.
Caden Weinfurter made a 3-pointer in the closing seconds of the half to bring Auburndale to within 30-24 at halftime.
The Eagles held Stratford without a basket for the first 4:45 of the second half and grabbed their first lead as Willfahrt hit two shots from beyond the 3-point arc to make it 32-30.
Brady Schmidt and John Seitz had 3-pointers to briefly put Stratford back up at 39-38, but Willfahrt and Auburndale’s defense took over from there.
Willfahrt drained two more 3-pointers and a pair of free throws to spark Auburndale’s closing run as Stratford suddenly went silent on the offensive end. Willfahrt finished 6-for-10 from 3-point range and scored a game-high 23 points for the Eagles.
“Alex is capable of that,” Weinfurter said. “His 3-point shooting percentage had went under 30, which is uncommon for him. He was 10-for-10 from the line the other night against Rib Lake and tonight his full game came out. Last year we had to beg him to shoot a little bit and this year he’s way more comfortable taking those shots.”
Weinfurter hit his fourth 3-pointer to quickly push Auburndale’s lead to 52-41 before Stratford ended a 4½-minute scoreless drought. Lucas Yeske followed with a hoop for Auburndale and Stratford went another 4½ minutes without a basket as the Eagles were able to finish off the win, outscoring the Tigers 34-17 in the second half.
Seitz ended up with 18 points for Stratford (8-7, 6-5 Marawood South), which ended up just 17-for-48 shooting and only 6-for-24 in the second half. Wrensch, the Tigers’ leading scorer, was held to just three points.
Auburndale hosts Pittsville for a nonconference game Friday, while Stratford is off until Saturday when it plays a nonconference game at Neillsville.
Eagles 60, Tigers 47
Stratford 30 17 – 47
Auburndale 26 34 – 60
STRATFORD (47): Braeden Schueller 3-9 1-2 9, John Seitz 6-12 3-4 18, Ashton Wrensch 1-8 0-0 3, Drew Bruesewitz 3-5 0-0 6, Payton Glenn 0-0 0-0 0, Henry Zaleski 0-2 0-0 0, Izaiah Hadlock 1-3 0-1 2, Brady Schmidt 3-9 0-0 9. FG: 17-48. FT: 4-7. 3-pointers: 9-22 (Seitz 3-4, Schmidt 3-8, Schueller 2-6, Wrench 1-3, Hadlock 0-1, Bruesewitz 0-1). Rebounds: 23 (Schueller 6). Turnovers: 7. Fouls: 11. Fouled out: none. Record: 8-7, 6-5 Marawood Conference South Division.
AUBURNDALE (60): Blake Raab 0-1 0-0 0, Trayton Weber 1-1 0-0 2, Lucas Yeske 7-14 0-0 14, Kaden Anderson 1-2 2-2 4, Alex Willfahrt 7-15 3-3 23, Tim Schmitt 0-0 0-0 0, Evan Scholl 1-5 2-2 5, Caden Weinfurter 4-13 0-0 12. FG: 21-51. FT: 7-7. 3-pointers: 11-30 (Willfahrt 6-10, Weinfurter 4-11, Scholl 1-4, Anderson 0-1, Raab 0-1, Yeske 0-3). Rebounds: 35 (Weber 11). Turnovers: 9. Fouls: 6. Fouled out: none. Record: 14-2, 9-2 Marawood Conference South Division.