Marshfield boys basketball holds off Wausau West to secure second place in WVC

Marshfield’s Ethan Posteluk hits a layup during the first half of the Tigers’ win over Wausau West on Friday night at Marshfield High School. (Photo by Paul Lecker/MarshfieldAreaSports.com)

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MARSHFIELD – The Marshfield boys basketball team put together an impressive first half run to catapult them to a 58-48 victory over Wausau West in its Wisconsin Valley Conference finale on Friday night at Marshfield High School.

After falling behind 14-12, Marshfield outscored West 18-0 during a 7-minute stretch to take the lead for good.

Two free throws by Ethan Posteluk and Grant Michaelis, two of Marshfield’s five seniors playing their final regular-season home game, sparked the run.

Reed Miller hit a pair of 3-pointers and two free throws, and Seth Anderson and Nick Stewart each had offensive rebounds that led to baskets to put Marshfield up 30-14.

The Tigers took a 33-17 lead into halftime and pushed it to 37-19 before West woke up.

The Warriors scored nine points in a row and were able to cut Marshfield’s lead down to seven on a pair of occasions, and eventually to five at 45-40 after a basket by Tommy Borta with 3:57 remaining.

Marshfield, which struggled for much of the game at the free throw line, made 9 of 10 during the final 2 minutes to preserve the victory.

“We’ve done that before, played really well and then let up,” Marshfield coach Scott Scheuer said. “I went away from my rotation. You get to a point where you’re like, ‘We’re not losing this,’ and then we got tired. I should have just played (more) guys.”

Miller made 7 of 8 at the line in the final 2 minutes and finished with a game-high 20 points, and Anderson ended up with 11 points for Marshfield.

With the victory, Marshfield (13-8 overall) clinches sole possession of second place in the Wisconsin Valley Conference with an 8-4 record. The Tigers, winners of six games in a row, will learn their first postseason matchup on Sunday when the WIAA releases its playoff brackets.

Scheuer said the Tigers, who are 11-2 since starting the season 2-6, are trending in the right direction.

“I like the way we are playing,” Scheuer said. “I didn’t like the way we played in stretches, but you do what you need to do to win. We didn’t shoot well, and that will happen, and when it does, you have to make free throws to close out the game.”

Marshfield finishes its regular-season schedule Monday with a nonconference game at Mosinee.

Tigers 58, Warriors 48
Wausau West 17 31 – 48
Marshfield 33 25 – 58
WAUSAU WEST (48):
Mitchell Michalske 2-7 0-0 6, Tommy Borta 7-16 0-2 14, Nick Adrian 2-5 0-0 5, Trevor Cunningham 0-1 0-2 0, Michael Neumueller 0-0 0-0 0, Jacob Wokatsch 2-4 0-0 4, Zach Raeder 3-7 4-5 10, Jakob Tordsen 2-7 5-6 9, Owen Paoli 0-0 0-0 0. FG: 18-47. FT: 9-15. 3-pointers: 1-14 (Adrian 1-3, Wokatsch 0-1, Tordsen 0-1, Cunningham 0-1, Raeder 0-2, Borta 0-2, Michalske 0-4). Rebounds: 26 (Borta 8). Turnovers: 7. Fouls: 25. Fouled out: Borta, Wokatsch, Tordsen. Record: 10-9, 6-5 Wisconsin Valley Conference.
MARSHFIELD (58): Ethan Posteluk 2-10 3-4 7, Brant Bohman 1-1 0-0 3, Seth Anderson 5-8 1-3 11, Reed Miller 3-8 12-16 20, Alec Hinson 2-8 5-6 9, Grant Michaelis 3-6 0-2 6, Nathan McGrath 0-1 0-0 0, Adam Hauge 0-0 0-1 0, Nick Stewart 1-1 0-0 2. FG: 15-43. FT: 21-32. 3-pointers: 3-15 (Miller 2-5, Bohman 1-1, McGrath 0-1, Posteluk 0-4, Hinson 0-4). Rebounds: 36 (Anderson 8). Turnovers: 10. Fouls: 18. Fouled out: Stewart. Record: 13-8, 8-4 Wisconsin Valley Conference.