This story is sponsored by Total Electric
By Paul Lecker
MarshfieldAreaSports.com
AUBURNDALE – The Auburndale boys basketball team is going back to sectionals for the first time in three years.
Junior Caden Weinfurter and senior Mason White Eagle carried the load for the Eagles, combining to shoot 16-for-20 from the field for 46 points as they downed Weyauwega-Fremont 64-48 in a WIAA Division 4 boys basketball regional final Saturday night at Auburndale High School.
With top scorers Alex Willfahrt and Lucas Yeske sidelined for parts of the game in foul trouble, and with neither shooting particularly well, it was the sharp shooting of Weinfurter and inside game from White Eagle that made all the difference for Auburndale.
No. 2 seed Auburndale (23-3) moves on to a Division 4 sectional semifinal against top-seed Marathon (23-3) at 7 p.m. Thursday at Marshfield High School. Neenah St. Mary Catholic (24-2) will take on Crivitz (24-1) in the other sectional semifinal, with the winners meeting for the sectional championship and a berth in the state tournament next Saturday, March 11, at Appleton East. Check out the statewide WIAA regional scoreboard here
Auburndale had runs of 9-0 and 8-0 in the first half, both times opening up big leads only to see Weyauwega-Fremont come back.
Weinfurter’s third 3-pointer of the half gave Auburndale a 19-9 lead before the Warhawks climbed back to within five. Weinfurter connected again, White Eagle scored inside and Trayton Weber drilled a 3 from the right elbow to help the Eagles push out to a 27-17 lead at halftime.
“Thank God for Cade and Mason,” Auburndale coach Chad Weinfurter said. “Cade was 4-for-4 on 3-pointers in the first half with them face-guarding him. Alex was in foul trouble a little bit, Lucas was in foul trouble a little bit, and kind of threw them off their games. It’s what we’ve done all year – when a couple of guys are down, a couple of guys step up. It’s the beauty of our team.”
Weyauwega-Fremont came to within four early in the second half as Jaden Rice and Hunter Meisenhelder made 3-pointers, but the Warhawks struggled shooting from that point forward.
Auburndale was able to bump its lead back to 10 at 41-31 on a basket by Weinfurter with 9:22 remaining and W-F was forced to play catch-up.
The Warhawks turned to the foul game over the final 4 minutes to extend it. Auburndale struggled at the free throw line for part of it, missing seven in a row at one point, but was able to keep a comfortable lead as Weyauwega-Fremont kept misfiring on its offensive end.
Auburndale finished strong, making seven of its last eight at the line to finish off the 16-point victory. W-F was just 17-for-61 shooting overall in the loss.
“We’ve become a much better defensive team than we were in the beginning of the year, which is what you hope for,” Chad Weinfurter said. “Credit Mason White Eagle, Trayton Weber did a nice job defensively coming off the bench, Blake Raab’s another one that did a great job on defense off the bench. We wanted them to earn everything they got and I don’t think they made many easy baskets.”
Weinfurter went 6-for-6 from 3-point range and 9-for-10 overall to finish with a game-high 27 points, and White Eagle was 7-for-10 from the field and a perfect 5-for-5 on free throws to earn 19 points for Auburndale.
Next up is a rematch with Marathon, the Marawood Conference South Division champions who are responsible for two of Auburndale’s three losses this season.
“They are a great team, well coached, best player in the conference in Grant Warren,” Chad Weinfurter said of his next opponent. “We’ll give it our best. We have nothing to lose.”
Rice had 11 points on just 4-for-14 shooting to lead Weyauwega-Fremont (16-10).
Eagles 64, Warhawks 48
Weyauwega-Fremont 17 31 – 48
Auburndale 27 37 – 64
WEYAUWEGA-FREMONT (48): Hunter Meisenhelder 3-7 0-0 7, Kaden Baehman 0-0 0-0 0, Jaden Rice 4-14 2-2 11, Nicholas Huebener 1-4 0-0 3, Brayden Arndt 3-13 1-2 7, Ethan Marquette 4-13 1-2 9, Caleb Leschke 1-3 0-0 3, Bryce Dittmann 1-6 3-6 5, Connor Delwiche 0-1 0-0 0, Jordan Zastrow 0-0 0-0 0, Christopher Gunst 0-0 3-4 3, Cooper Kester 0-0 0-0 0, Dylan Anadell 0-0 0-0 0. FG: 17-61. FT: 10-16. 3-pointers: 4-19 (Heubner 1-2, Rice 1-3, Leschke 1-3, Meisenhelder 1-3, Delwiche 0-1, Dittmann 0-2, Arndt 0-5). Rebounds: 31 (Marquette 8). Turnovers: 11. Fouls: 22. Fouled out: Meisenhelder. Record: 16-10.
AUBURNDALE (64): Blake Raab 0-2 3-8 3, Aden Cherney 0-0 0-0 0, Trayton Weber 1-1 0-0 3, Mason Meissner 0-0 0-0 0, Lucas Yeske 0-6 2-2 2, Kaden Anderson 0-2 0-0 0, Alex Willfahrt 1-5 2-2 2, Tim Schmitt 1-1 0-0 2, Evan Scholl 1-5 2-6 4, Mason White Eagle 7-10 5-5 19, Ian Brown 0-0 0-0 0, Mason Rachu 0-0 0-0 0, Caden Weinfurter 9-10 3-4 27. FG: 20-44. FT: 17-27. 3-pointers: 7-15 (Weinfurter 6-6, Weber 1-1, Raab 0-1, Scholl 0-2, Yeske 0-5). Rebounds: 34 (Weber 7, Scholl 7). Turnovers: 15. Fouls: 14. Fouled out: none. Record: 23-3.