This story is sponsored by: The Marshfield Tiger Booster Club
By Paul Lecker
MarshfieldAreaSports.com
MARSHFIELD – The Marshfield boys basketball team scored the first six points of the game and never trailed as it went on to an 85-53 rout of a short-handed Wisconsin Rapids squad on Friday night at Marshfield High School.
The Tigers have won five of their last six games and Friday’s win marks the third time in that streak where they have scored 79 points or more.
Marshfield made 14 of 24 shots from 3-point range and shot 62 percent overall, making 32 of 52 from the field in the victory.
Alec Hinson made 5 of 6 from 3-point range, all in the second half, and finished with a game-high 19 points for the Tigers (7-6 overall, 4-3 Wisconsin Valley Conference).
“We have run good offense and have really emphasized that in practice – the spacing, the turning of the ball with the pass and not the dribble, setting up our shooters and getting our guys in position to succeed,” Marshfield coach Scott Scheuer said. “We shot a lot of 3s, the game kind of allowed us to do that. Alec was really shooting well and we have a handful of guys that can shoot it consistently if they are on rhythm, feet underneath them, and they’re not forcing it.”
Reed Miller hit three 3-pointers and Ethan Posteluk added another in a 12-0 run during the final 3:22 of the first half, pushing Marshfield’s lead to 41-22 at intermission. Miller finished with 15 points and Posteluk added 10.
Wisconsin Rapids (7-8, 1-6 Wisconsin Valley Conference) would get no closer than 18 the rest of the way as it was playing without three of its top players – Ben Olson, Isaiah Westfall and Keegan Hewitt.
“I was nervous with (Rapids) having so many kids not playing and my guys looking and saying ‘Oh, he’s out and he’s out,’” Scheuer said. “I knew it didn’t matter who they had, they were going to be hard-nosed and come out and fight. They just didn’t have the depth. I wasn’t going to change what I wanted to do, we were going to come after them.
“The score doesn’t indicate that it was close, but they played us hard and gave us some things that we didn’t handle very well. We have got to correct those before Tuesday.”
Adam Hauge hit three 3-pointers and scored 11 points off the bench, and Seth Anderson added 10 for the Tigers, who had five players in all reach double figures in scoring.
Marshfield hosts Merrill on Tuesday.
Tigers 85, Raiders 53
Wisconsin Rapids 22 31 – 53
Marshfield 41 44 – 85
WISCONSIN RAPIDS (53): Dylan Bassuener 4-10 0-0 8, Robert Stevens 0-3 0-0 0, Isaac Pelot 0-0 0-0 0, Caleb Krommenakker 1-4 0-0 2, Zach Langemeier 6-17 7-8 21, Brett Hanson 5-6 2-2 13, Adam Vincent 1-3 2-2 5, Jake Schooley 1-1 0-1 2, Cody Bredl 1-2 0-0 2, Garett Wiernik 0-0 0-0 0, Keegan Pulchinski 0-0 0-0 0. FG: 19-46. FT: 11-13. 3-pointers: 4-13 (Langemeier 2-7, Vincent 1-3, Hanson 1-1, Bredl 0-1, Bassuener 0-1). Rebounds: 18 (Langemeier 3). Turnovers: 13. Fouls: 13. Fouled out: none. Record: 7-8, 1-6 Wisconsin Valley Conference.
MARSHFIELD (85): Ethan Posteluk 4-5 0-0 10, Brant Bohman 4-6 0-0 8, Seth Anderson 5-9 0-0 10, Reed Miller 6-9 0-0 15, Tommy Olson 1-1 0-0 3, Alec Hinson 5-8 4-4 19, Grant Michaelis 3-6 1-2 7, Isaac Meverden 0-1 0-0 0, Nathan McGrath 0-1 0-0 0, John Reigel 0-0 2-2 2, Adam Hauge 4-5 0-0 11, Nick Stewart 0-1 0-0 0. FG: 32-52. FT: 7-8. 3-pointers: 14-24 (Hinson 5-6, Hauge 3-4, Miller 3-5, Posteluk 2-3, Olson 1-1, McGrath 0-1, Michaelis 0-2, Bohman 0-2). Rebounds: 31 (Michaelis 6). Turnovers: 11. Fouls: 15. Fouled out: none. Record: 7-7, 4-3 Wisconsin Valley Conference.