This story is sponsored by Total Electric
By Paul Lecker
MarshfieldAreaSports.com
MARSHFIELD – The Marshfield boys basketball team just keeps rolling along.
The Tigers shot an efficient 53 percent from the field, drilled 10 3-pointers, and cruised past Wausau East 73-60 on Friday night at the Chips Hamburgers Fieldhouse at Marshfield High School to post their 13th-straight victory.
With the win and Stevens Point’s loss to D.C. Everest on Friday, the Tigers have now clinched at least a share of the Wisconsin Valley Conference championship, earning back-to-back WVC titles for the first time in program history. Click here to view the Wisconsin Valley Conference boys basketball standings
Sophomore Brooks Hinson made six 3-pointers, five in the first half, and finished with a game-high 29 points to lead the way for Marshfield, which is now 15-4 overall and 9-0 in the Wisconsin Valley Conference.
After East scored the opening basket, Marshfield went on a 14-4 run to take control and never looked back.
Hinson scored twice inside and made five-straight 3-point attempts in a 6½-minute stretch to help Marshfield build a 36-18 lead.
A late basket by Luke LeMoine, who chipped in 12 points and seven rebounds in the win, gave the Tigers a 40-24 lead at halftime. East never cut it to single digits the rest of the way.
“There was a stretch in that first half where Brooks got hot and stretched our lead out a little bit,” Marshfield coach Chris Fischer said. “We got to the line a little bit in that first half – I mean 40 points in a half is pretty good. Wausau East is a talented group with a nice mix of size and youth and guard-play. They attacked us time and time again. We fouled too much tonight and wasn’t really pleased with how we defended, but Wausau East had a lot to do with that.”
Wausau East came as close as 12 on a couple of occasions as Jesse Napgezek got hot. Napgezek, held scoreless in the first half, was 6-for-6 from the field and 4-for-4 at the free throw line to score all 17 points after halftime.
Marshfield, however, was able to counter both runs as Braxton Kurth connected on three 3-pointers and Hinson added another to keep the Lumberjacks at bay. Kurth finished with 14 points, 12 in the second half.
Marshfield will have to win one of its final three conference games to clinch sole possession of the Wisconsin Valley Conference title, which had never been done by the Tigers before 2022. The Tigers have won 21-straight WVC games dating back to a perfect 12-0 finish last season.
“Between this year and last year, the biggest difference is offensively we’re better at attacking off the dribble,” Fischer said. “Last year we had to use each other a little more with our screening action, this year we’re better in a one-on-one off the dribble. Defensively, we still haven’t found our stride yet. We had a couple of nice games in the middle of our streak here where we defended real well. The last couple we’re slipping a little bit and it’s more of on an individual basis, not a team issue.”
In addition to Napgezek, Jaydan Garrett had 13 points on 6 of 8 shooting for Wausau East, which falls to 7-12 overall and 3-6 in the WVC.
Marshfield will host Kaukauna at 6 p.m. Saturday for a nonconference game. East is off until Thursday when it is at home against Wisconsin Rapids.
Tigers 73, Lumberjacks 60
Wausau East 24 36 – 60
Marshfield 40 33 – 73
WAUSAU EAST (60): Caden Werth 3-5 2-2 9, Jaydan Garrett 6-8 0-0 13, Isaac Rozwadowski 2-7 0-0 4, Brady Prihoda 0-0 0-0 0, Jack Cayley 2-4 0-0 4, Aiden Dykstra 2-3 1-2 5, Jack Barthels 0-5 1-2 1, Jesse Napgezek 6-10 4-4 17, Charlie Cayley 1-5 5-6 7. FG: 22-47. FT: 13-19. 3-pointers: 3-16 (Werth 1-1, Garrett 1-3, Napgezek 1-4, C. Cayley 0-1, Rozwadowski 0-2, Barthels 0-5). Rebounds: 24 (C. Cayley 6). Turnovers: 11. Fouls: 16. Fouled out: none. Record: 7-12, 3-6 Wisconsin Valley Conference.
MARSHFIELD (73): Luke LeMoine 5-9 2-2 12, Braxton Kurth 5-9 1-2 14, Bennett Lang 1-3 0-0 2, Jeff Marsh 0-0 0-0 0, Brooks Hinson 10-13 3-4 29, Sam Meverden 1-2 2-2 4, Ryan Donovan 0-0 0-0 0, Carson Matis 1-1 0-0 3, Chris Pohl 0-3 2-2 2, Owen Hanson 1-5 5-8 7. FG: 24-45. FT: 15-20. 3-pointers: 10-20 (Hinson 6-9, Kurth 3-5, Matis 1-1, Meverden 0-1, Pohl 0-2, Lang 0-2). Rebounds: 20 (LeMoine 7). Turnovers: 7. Fouls: 17. Fouled out: LeMoine. Record: 15-4, 9-0 Wisconsin Valley Conference.