Tigers win third straight overall, earn first WVC victory

By Paul Lecker

Sports Reporter

MARSHFIELD — The Marshfield boys basketball team won its third-straight game with a steady 60-46 victory over Merrill in a Wisconsin Valley Conference matchup Friday night at Marshfield High School.

The win is the Tigers’ first in the Valley this season as they improve to 6-4 overall and 1-2 in the conference.

The Tigers pulled ahead for good four minutes into the game and built a 10-point lead by halftime.

Adam Fravert scored 16 points and had nine rebounds in the first half, and Grant Michaelis hit a 3-pointer late to put Marshfield up 35-25 at the break.

“I told them, ‘Tonight, I would have paid to watch you play,’ I was very impressed,” Marshfield coach Scott Scheuer said. “It was what I saw this summer. That’s how we can play.”

Merrill only got as close as seven early in the second half before Marshfield pulled away again.

Fravert had a dunk, and Alec Hinson and Fravert hit back-to-back 3-pointers to push the Tigers’ lead to 48-34.

A 10-2 run, capped by two more dunks by Fravert, gave Marshfield its biggest lead at 60-39 with 2:40 left.

Fravert finished with 27 points and 15 rebounds, Michaelis added 12 points, and Hinson 10 for the Tigers.

Marshfield shot 53 percent (26 of 49) and only had eight turnovers in the win.

“I’m happy with the way we played possession by possession,” Scheuer said. “Adam’s a tough matchup. What are you going to do? We tried clearing out, giving him some space, and he’s pretty good with the ball, and other guys made shots. The best 3-point shot is inside-out, and we got those. You make shots, you have more energy on defense, and a couple of dunks by Adam and now everyone has energy, and it snowballs.”

Zach Mootz hit three 3-pointers and had 12 points for Merrill (1-9, 0-4 Wisconsin Valley Conference).

Marshfield’s next game is Tuesday at D.C. Everest. The game will be broadcast on WDLB-AM 1450 and wdlbwosq.com.

(Hub City Times Sports Reporter Paul Lecker is also the publisher of MarshfieldAreaSports.com.)

Tigers 60, Bluejays 46

Merrill 25 21 – 46

Marshfield 35 25 – 60

MERRILL (46): Scott Wallace 1-6 2-3 4, Drew Hoff 2-4 1-2 6, Riley Sutton 2-3 0-0 5, Payton Pyan 0-2 0-0 0, Ben Tabor 1-3 0-0 2, Austyn Kirby 0-0 0-0 0, Austin Reissmann 2-7 0-0 5, Jared Olloff 3-7 0-0 6, Zach Mootz 4-6 1-2 12, Jon Gruetzmacher 3-5 0-2 6. FG: 18-43. FT: 4-9. 3-pointers: 6-17 (Mootz 3-5, Sutton 1-1, Hoff 1-2, Reissmann 1-3, Tabor 0-1, Pyan 0-2, Wallace 0-3). Rebounds: 20 (Sutton 6). Turnovers: 9. Fouls: 11. Fouled out: none. Record: 1-9, 0-4 Wisconsin Valley Conference.

MARSHFIELD (60): Ethan Posteluk 4-9 0-0 8, Ethan Voss 1-1 1-3 3, Tyson Slade 0-2 0-2 0, Chase Freeck 0-0 0-0 0, Alec Hinson 4-10 0-0 10, Grant Michaelis 5-8 0-0 12, Isaac Huettl 0-0 0-0 0, Nathan McGrath 0-0 0-0 0, Adam Fravert 12-18 1-3 27, Jon Hardinger 0-0 0-0 0, Nick Stewart 0-1 0-0 0. FG: 26-49. FT: 2-8. 3-pointers: 6-15 (Hinson 2-7, Michaelis 2-2, Fravert 2-3, Posteluk 0-3). Rebounds: 29 (Fravert 15). Turnovers: 8. Fouls: 11. Fouled out: none. Record: 6-4, 1-2 Wisconsin Valley Conference.