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By Paul Lecker
MarshfieldAreaSports.com
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MARSHFIELD – The defending Wisconsin Valley Conference boys basketball champions started the conference season on a good note Friday night.
Marshfield jumped out to a 13-3 lead and held off strong runs by Merrill in final three quarters to knock off the Bluejays 57-50 in its WVC opener at Marshfield High School.
Marshfield junior Elliot Ashbeck scored 20 points, 16 coming in the second half, and iced the game by making 8 of 10 free throws in the fourth quarter. Ashbeck also grabbed six rebounds.
Cale Zuiker, a Youngstown State recruit, added 17 points and Jon Bauer had six points and 10 rebounds for the Tigers, who improve to 3-0 overall and also avenge a nonconference loss to Merrill a year ago.
“Last year was a tough for us, but was more important for us this year was that it was a conference game – last year was a nonconference game,” Zuiker said. “We’re trying to put another date up there on that board for conference championships. This is our first real test.”
Merrill’s Division I recruit, senior Paul Jesperson, hit a 3-pointer to close out the first quarter and cut the Tigers’ lead to 13-6.
Marshfield pulled ahead by nine on two straight baskets by Ashbeck before Merrill made its first run.
Sam Arneson scored inside and David Jesperson hit a 3-pointer to cut it to 20-16, but Marshfield responded by outscoring Merrill 10-3 over the final 3:45. Ian Padron and Zuiker each scored four points in the run and Brandon Brown had a steal and a basket with 10 seconds left as Marshfield took a 30-19 lead into halftime.
Merrill started the second half by scoring six points in a row, but Marshfield again came back and built the lead back to 13 as Ashbeck hit a pair of 3-pointers and Zuiker scored five points in a 13-5 run over the final 5:20.
“A team the caliber of Merrill, you know they’re going to have some runs,” Marshfield coach Craig Michaelis said. “They did, almost one per quarter on us, and to our kids credit, they handled it very well and finished it the right way.”
Merrill made one final run in the middle of the fourth quarter. Jesperson scored six points in an 8-0 run that was capped by a steal and a basket by Matt Woller, cutting the Tigers’ lead to 49-45 with 3 minutes left.
From there, Marshfield made nine of 13 free throws – 8 of 10 from Ashbeck – to keep Merrill at bay.
Jesperson finished with 22 points on 6 of 19 shooting and grabbed seven rebounds for Merrill (1-3).
Even though it’s early in the season, the win shows the Tigers are a team to be reckoned with again in the Wisconsin Valley.
“I think guys have worked at their strengths, worked at their games,” Michaelis said. “What you can’t undersell, what you can’t undervalue, are seniors. When you have guys that have been through the battles before and come back as seniors, it makes a big difference.”
Marshfield hosts Stevens Point on Dec. 17.
Tigers 57, Bluejays 50
Merrill 6 13 11 20 – 50
Marshfield 13 17 13 14 – 57
MERRILL (50): Matt Woller 4-7 0-1 8, David Jesperson 3-7 0-0 8, Paul Jesperson 6-19 7-10 22, Kyle Andreska 1-2 0-0 3, Sam Arneson 2-3 3-9 7, Sam Koebe 0-0 0-0 0, Matt Thistle 1-1 0-0 2. FG: 16-38. FT: 10-20. 3-pointers: 6-16 (P. Jesperson 3-10, D. Jesperson 3-24, Andreska 1-2). Rebounds: 25 (P. Jesperson 7, Woller 6). Total fouls: 21. Fouled out: Andreska. Turnovers: 13. Record: 1-3, 0-1 Wisconsin Valley Conference.
MARSHFIELD (57): Ian Padron 3-7 6-6 12, Elliot Ashbeck 6-16 8-10 20, Cale Zuiker 6-13 2-2 17, Dustin Thumann 0-1 0-0 0, Jon Bauer 2-3 2-6 6, Brandon Brown 1-1 0-0 2, Chris Stemen 0-2 0-0 0, Josh Hennes 0-0 0-0 0. FG: 18-43. FT: 18-24. 3-pointers: 5-17 (Zuiker 3-8, Ashbeck 2-7, Stemen 0-1, Thumann 0-1). Rebounds: 30 (Bauer 10, Ashbeck 6). Total fouls: 17. Fouled out: Padron. Turnovers: 10. Record: 3-0, 1-0 Wisconsin Valley Conference.