This story is sponsored by: Wisconsin Homes of Marshfield
By Paul Lecker
MarshfieldAreaSports.com
MARSHFIELD – There was no rust after not playing for a week, and certainly no playoff jitters for the Marshfield boys basketball team on Friday night. The Tigers were locked in from the start.
The top-seed Marshfield scored the first 19 points of the game and led by double digits the rest of the way, rolling to an 81-40 win over No. 17 seed Chippewa Falls in a WIAA Division 1 regional semifinal at the Fredrick Construction Fieldhouse at Marshfield High School.
Marshfield (23-2) will host No. 9 seed Kimberly (17-8) in a D-1 regional final on Saturday at 7 p.m. Kimberly topped No. 8 Appleton North on the road 57-48 on Friday night.
Landon Lee and Brant Freis each hit two 3-pointers, Chris Pohl connect on another and Ethan Knecht scored on a pair of offensive rebounds to push the Tigers out to the commanding 19-0 lead and they never looked back.
“I thought Ethan Knecht was really, really good early in getting his hands on a lot of offensive rebounds,” Marshfield coach Chris Fischer said. “That was something we thought we could do, take advantage of the offensive glass, and we did that.”
Chippewa Falls was able to get hot for a bit to close the first half, making four-straight 3-point attempts, cutting Marshfield’s lead to 31-21, but a 3-pointer by Valin Ramberg with 15 seconds to go stopped the run and gave the Tigers a 13-point lead at the break.
Marshfield scored the first eight points of the second half as Pohl and Brooks Hinson drilled 3-pointers, and the rout was on.
Chippewa Falls scored just five points in the final 13½ minutes and Marshfield was able to empty its bench as it cruised to the 41-point win.
Five Tigers scored in double figures, led by Pohl’s 16 points. Lee added 13, Knecht had a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds, and Hinson and Ramberg both poured in 11 in the win.
Kimberly now stands in the way from Marshfield’s first sectional appearance since 2018.
“Kimberly is full of solidly-built athletes,” Fischer said. “Kimberly has athletes upon athletes. They’re thick, they’re strong. They are going to try to attack us hard off the dribble and try to get deep into the paint. We’re going to have to be able to hold our ground. It’s going to be a big challenge for us.”
Jakeb Lequia led Chippewa Falls (4-22) with 12 points as the Cardinals shot just 35 percent (15-for-43) from the field.
Tigers 81, Cardinals 40
Chippewa Falls 21 19 – 40
Marshfield 34 47 – 81
CHIPPEWA FALLS (40): Gabgnit Mason 1-5 0-0 3, Easton Bobb 1-8 0-0 3, Carson Wedemeyer 2-7 0-0 5, Gavin Thompson 0-0 0-0 0, Braden Dickerson 3-7 0-0 8, David Terhark 1-3 0-0 2, Jakeb Lequia 4-7 1-2 12, Cory Suckerman 0-1 0-0 0, Isaiah DesJarlais 0-0 0-0 0, Jaylyn Smith 0-0 0-0 0, Tiege Anderson 0-1 0-0 0, Conrad Gebauer 0-0 0-0 0, Collin Nichols 3-4 0-0 7, Owen Munson 0-0 0-0 0. FG: 15-43. FT: 1-2. 3-pointers: 9-29 (Lequia 3-5, Dickerson 2-5, Nichols 1-2, Wedemeyer 1-4, Mason 1-5, Bobb 1-6, Terhark 0-1, Anderson 0-1). Rebounds: 16 (Dickerson 3, Terhark 3, Wedemeyer 3). Turnovers: 17. Fouls: 8. Fouled out: none. Record: 4-22.
MARSHFIELD (81): Chris Pohl 7-9 0-0 16, Joey Ketterer 1-2 0-0 3, Maxx Oertel 1-2 2-2 4, Noah Daniels 0-0 0-0 0, Brooks Hinson 5-10 0-0 11, Brant Freis 2-4 0-0 6, Landon Lee 4-10 3-4 13, Afton Hamill 2-2 0-0 5, J.J. Steinbach 0-0 0-1 0, Jack Sternitzky 0-0 0-0 0, Valin Ramberg 4-7 0-0 11, Ethan Knecht 4-7 4-4 12, Magnus Machtan 0-0 0-0 0. FG: 30-53. FT: 9-11. 3-pointers: 12-23 (Ramberg 3-5, Freis 2-3, Pohl 2-3, Lee 2-6, Ketterer 1-1, Hamill 1-1, Hinson 1-4). Rebounds: 37 (Knecht 10). Turnovers: 11. Fouls: 7. Fouled out: none. Record 23-2.