This story is sponsored by: Wisconsin Homes of Marshfield
By Paul Lecker
MarshfieldAreaSports.com
MARSHFIELD – A barrage of 3-pointers late in the first half gave Appleton North some much-needed momentum and Marshfield never could fight all the way back.
North made 3-pointers on four-straight possessions in the final three minutes of the first half to open up an eight-point lead and the Tigers couldn’t recover, falling 58-49 in a WIAA Division 1 boys basketball regional semifinal Friday night at the Chips Hamburgers Fieldhouse at Marshfield High School.
No. 12 seed Appleton North (12-13) moves on to a Division 1 regional final at No. 4 Hortonville (15-10) on Saturday in a busted-up Sectional 1 bracket. Hortonville crushed Holmen 67-44 on Friday. Check out the statewide WIAA regional scoreboard here
In addition to Appleton North’s upset, No. 16 Oshkosh West defeated No. 1 Eau Claire Memorial and No. 14 Appleton West topped No. 3 Oshkosh North, leaving the sectional’s state tournament berth wide open.
After a 3-pointer by Landon Lee opened the scoring for Marshfield, North ripped off seven points a row.
Marshfield quickly caught up as Luke LeMoine converted a three-point play to tie the game at 8-8 and the lead changed hands four times over the next six minutes.
LeMoine scored eight consecutive points for Marshfield, while North started to heat from 3-point range as freshmen Nathan Ramus and Will Sweeney each hit from deep and the game was tied at 19-19 with 5 minutes to go before half.
Sweeney hit again to start the Lightning’s string of four-straight 3-pointers. Another freshman, Grant Hardy, connected to make it 25-19. After Owen Hanson scored for Marshfield, Garrett Staszak made a 3 for North, and following two free throws by LeMoine, Hardy swished another 3-pointer as North took a 31-25 lead into halftime.
Marshfield fell behind by as many as 10 at 39-29 following a basket by Ramus before making of a final push. The Tigers went to a 1-3-1 half-court trap that sparked an 8-0 run.
Brooks Hinson scored off a steal, Lee connected off a nice back-door pass and LeMoine scored inside to cut North’s lead to 44-41 with 5:33 to go.
Staszak then banked in a 3-pointer from the left elbow, halting Marshfield’s momentum and putting the Tigers in a funk for the rest of the game.
North was able to make 9 of 11 free throws in the final 2:10 and Marshfield made just one more basket from the field – the Tigers did go 5-for-7 at the line during the stretch – and could never get closer than five in the final minutes.
LeMoine ended up with 23 points and Hinson had 10 for the Tigers. Staszak led North with 14 points, while Hardy and Ramus each had 12.
Marshfield, champions of the Wisconsin Valley Conference for the second year in a row, finishes the season with an 18-7 record.
Lightning 58, Tigers 49
Appleton North 31 27 – 58
Marshfield 25 24 – 49
APPLETON NORTH (58): Trent Mullen 3-6 0-0 6, Will Sweeney 3-5 1-2 9, Grant Hardy 3-6 4-4 12, Garrett Stszak 3-5 6-10 14, Luke Kritzer 0-1 0-0 0, Nathan Ramus 4-7 2-2 12, Ben Isom 1-1 0-0 3, Abraham Tomori 1-3 0-0 2. FG: 18-34. FT: 13-18. 3-pointers: 9-19 (Staszak 2-3, Ramus 2-4, Sweeney 2-4, Hardy 2-5, Isom 1-1, Tomori 0-2). Rebounds: 18 (Staszak 4, Ramus 4, Hardy 4). Turnovers: 7. Fouls: 13. Fouled out: Isom. Record: 12-13.
MARSHFIELD (49): Luke LeMoine 8-12 7-9 23, Braxton Kurth 0-3 0-0 0, Brooks Hinson 3-9 3-3 10, Landon Lee 3-6 0-0 8, Carson Matis 0-0 0-0 0, Chris Pohl 1-4 0-0 3, Owen Hanson 2-4 1-2 5. FG: 17-38. FT: 11-14. 3-pointers: 4-15 (Lee 2-2, Pohl 1-2, Hinson 1-5, LeMoine 0-1, Hanson 0-2, Kurth 0-3). Rebounds: 18 (LeMoine 5). Turnovers: 8. Fouls: 16. Fouled out: Lee. Record: 18-7.