This story is sponsored by Total Electric
By Paul Lecker
MarshfieldAreaSports.com
APPLETON – After leading for most of the first nine minutes of the season half, no matter what Auburndale did during the final nine minutes, it could not find its way back on top.
Neenah St. Mary Catholic pulled ahead with just more than nine minutes to go and never relinquished the lead, making 12 of 14 free throws down the stretch to top Auburndale 75-70 in a WIAA Division 4 boys basketball sectional final Saturday afternoon at Appleton East High School.
Neenah St. Mary Catholic (26-2) qualifies for its first state tournament since 2009, the only time the program has participated.
Auburndale, playing in its first sectional final since its last state berth in 2015, finishes its magical run with a 24-4 record. Click here to view the statewide sectional scoreboard
“We built a little lead there and they battled back and got it to three at half, then we were battled back. It was back-and-forth, like a sectional game final should be,” Auburndale coach Chad Weinfurter said. “They just made a couple of more plays than we did. They made their free throws and we had a couple of mental lapses midway through the second half. They had an offensive rebound and (Cole Uhlenbrauck) made a basket, and we had a few mental lapses where they made two 3s. That’s eight points right there, but they are a good offensive team, probably the best we’ve played against this season.”
The two teams showed they were evenly matched in the first half as the lead exchanged hands seven times in the opening 12 minutes.
A 3-pointer by Blake Raab and a rebound and basket from Trayton Weber put Auburndale up 18-17 before St. Mary Catholic struck back and regained on the lead at 22-20 on 3-pointer from Fisher MacKenzie.
Auburndale responded by putting forth its best streak of the game, using a 10-0 run to go up eight.
Alex Willfahrt and Lucas Yeske hit 3-pointers in the surge for the Eagles, who also forced four-straight misses from 3-point range for St. Mary, to take command at 30-22.
The Zephyrs used a timeout to regroup and countered with a 10-4 run, that included a three-point play by Daniel Griffith and another 3-pointer from MacKenzie, before a free throw from Mason White Eagle with 4.9 seconds left in the half gave Auburndale a 35-32 lead at halftime.
White Eagle, the undersized Auburndale senior post player, scored three baskets inside early in the second half only to see Griffith hit back-to-back 3-pointers for St. Mary to tie the game at 43-43.
Much like the first part of the game, the next five minutes went back and forth with Auburndale taking two-point leads twice only to see the Zephyrs respond.
After a free-throw line jumper by White Eagle, who finished with a team-high 24 points for the Eagles, Uhlenbrauck drilled a 3-pointer to give St. Mary Catholic a 50-49 lead with 10:54 to go.
Auburndale had a chance to take control back after a St. Mary’s foul and ensuing technical foul. However, the Eagles missed all four free throw attempts.
On the ensuing possession, Weber scored inside to regain the lead for Auburndale, but St. Mary came back again as Charlie Nackers scored inside with 9:21 left and the Eagles would not be able to recover.
The Zephyrs led by as much as seven at 63-56 after a fastbreak layup by Owen Ripley with 6:44 left. That would be St. Mary’s last made field goal, but it was able to maintain its lead at the free throw line.
Auburndale closed to within one twice, the last time following a 3-pointer from Weinfurter by 1:05 left, but the Eagles would score just one point the rest of the way. Griffith made five of six free throws in the last minute to ice it for St. Mary’s. He finished 11-for-12 at the free throw line and scored 24 points, with Uhlenbrauck contributing 19 points and seven rebounds for the Zephyrs.
“We can play at that pace,” Chad Weinfurter said referring to the Zephyrs’ high-octane offense that came into the game averaging more than 80 points per game. “They are a better at it, so we wanted to slow it down a little bit, but sometimes it’s hard to pass up a quality shot. I didn’t think we took bad shots and we didn’t have a lot of turnovers (six). When you don’t turn the ball over and get good shots against their pressure defense, you can live with it in the 70s.”
Willfahrt added 15 points and Weinfurter finished with 10 for Auburndale.
Zephyrs 75, Eagles 70
Auburndale 35 35 – 70
St. Mary Catholic 32 43 – 75
AUBURNDALE (70): Blake Raab 1-3 0-0 3, Trayton Weber 3-4 0-0 6, Lucas Yeske 3-10 0-0 7, Kaden Anderson 1-3 0-2 2, Alex Willfahrt 5-12 4-5 15, Evan Scholl 0-1 3-4 3, Mason White Eagle 11-15 2-4 24, Caden Weinfurter 4-12 0-2 10. FG: 28-60. 3-pointers: 5-22 (Weinfurter 2-8, Raab 1-2, Yeske 1-4, Willfahrt 1-7, Anderson 0-1). Rebounds: 31 (White Eagle 6). Turnovers: 6. Fouls: 15. Fouled out: Yeske, Scholl. Record: 24-4.
ST. MARY CATHOLIC (75): Daniel Griffith 5-12 12-13 24, Owen Ripley 3-5 0-0 6, Braeden Brenn 0-0 0-0 0, Preston Fields 1-5 1-2 4, Charlie Nackers 5-10 0-0 11, Cole Uhlenbrauck 7-13 3-3 19, Fisher MacKenzie 4-11 0-0 11. FG: 25-56. FT: 16-18. 3-pointers: 9-31 (MacKenzie 3-8, Uhlenbrauck 2-6, Griffith 2-6, Nackers 1-4, Fields 1-5, Ripley 0-2). Rebounds: 26 (Nackers 7, Uhlenbrauck 7, MacKenzie 7). Turnovers: 4. Fouls: 14. Fouled out: none. Record: 26-2.