By Paul Lecker
MarshfieldAreaSports.com
Year after year, the WIAA boys basketball regional in central Wisconsin is one of the toughest in Division 3. This year is no different.
The eight-team regional featuring Auburndale and Stratford has two conference champions (Marathon from the Marawood South and Amherst from the Central Wisconsin-8) and five teams overall that have winning records.
Auburndale (16-6) has won 10 of its last 11 games and earned a No. 3 seed. The Apaches will host No. 6 Stevens Point Pacelli (8-14) on Tuesday in a WIAA Division 3 regional quarterfinal.
Stratford (12-10) is the No. 4 seed and hosts No. 5 Edgar (12-10) on Tuesday.
The goal for both – a chance for a rematch with undefeated Marathon (22-0) along the way to a regional championship.
Auburndale coach Chad Weinfurter said it took a while for his team to get used to new roles after the Apaches’ potential leading scorer, Casey O’Reilly, was injured during the football season.
“(O’Reilly) would have averaged 12 or 14 points a game. That was the biggest adjustment for our kids, having lost their leading scorer from the summer (league),” Weinfurter said. “Garrett Nikolay had to adjust to that top scoring role. Our point guard C.J. Castellano had to become more scoring oriented, Tyler Pankratz has had to score a little more and become accustomed to that role.”
Auburndale began the season 4-1 but lost two straight before something started to click during a win over Pittsville on Jan. 8. Since, the Apaches have lost only three times – twice to Marathon.
“It really started in the second half of that first Pittsville game,” Weinfurter said. “The only slip-ups were Marathon. I think the last game we played against them, they played as well as they could and we played as bad as we could. Our kids have found their roles and have played well.”
Weinfurter was referring to a 60-30 loss at Marathon on Feb. 19 when the Raiders started out the game with a 24-0 run.
To get another crack at Marathon, Auburndale will first have to dispatch of Pacelli, which has stumbled into the playoffs losing three of its last four games.
“They shoot a lot of perimeter shots, shoot a lot of 3-pointers at a pretty good rate,” Weinfurter said. “They don’t have much of an inside game. They like to penetrate and if nothing is there they kick it out for an open shot.”
Stratford could get the first shot at Marathon, should the Tigers complete a three-peat against Marawood-rival Edgar.
The Tigers beat Edgar twice during the regular season, and both times convincingly. Stratford, which beat the Wildcats 65-51 on Jan. 5 and 59-40 on Feb. 11, have gone 7-4 over its last 11 games after an uneven 5-6 start to the season.
The winner of the Stratford-Edgar battle will likely face the undefeated Raiders in a regional semifinal on Thursday, should Marathon take care of 5-16 Manawa on Tuesday.
Should Auburndale win Tuesday, it would have to face CWC-8 champion Amherst (20-2) or Iola-Scandinavia (9-13) in a regional semifinal Thursday. Amherst won the CWC-8 title outright and haven’t lost since Jan. 15, a string of 10 straight wins.
WIAA Division 3 Ashwaubenon Sectional
Stevens Point Regional
Tuesday’s quarterfinal games
No. 6 Stevens Point Pacelli (8-14) at No. 3 Auburndale (16-6)
No. 7 Iola-Scandinavia (9-13) at No. 2 Amherst (20-2)
No. 5 Edgar (12-10) at No. 4 Stratford (12-10)
No. 8 Manawa (5-16) at No. 1 Marathon (22-0)
Thursday’s semifinals
Higher seeded team hosts
Saturday
Regional final at Stevens Point Area Senior High, 1:30 p.m.
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