MARINETTE — Fans at P.F. Neverman Gymnasium were treated to a WIAA playoff victory Tuesday evening.
The eighth-seeded Marinette High School boys basketball team hosted ninth-seeded West Bend East in a WIAA Regional contest. After trailing by as many as ten points in the second half, the Marines stormed back to claim a 61-60 win.
“I’m proud of our guys for digging deep and getting it done at the end,” Marinette coach Connor Nelson said. “It was a great atmosphere. Our fans are awesome, and we had a great crowd again tonight. This is a big win for us, and a big win for our program.”
The Suns came out red-hot, knocking down five three-pointers in the first ten minutes of the game. Senior guard Blake Twito led the charge for West Bend with 16 points in the first half.
“They are a good team,” Nelson said. “They play in a tough conference. They play tough teams every night. They were ready to go, and credit to them for coming out and kind of punching us in the mouth to start the game.”
The Marines were able to tie the score on three occasions, but never led.
After Max Jacobson hit a triple to tie the game at 31, the Suns gained some separation with seven unanswered points. Henry Bailey ended the half with a three-pointer to close the gap to 38-34 at intermission.
With 9:48 to play, West Bend’s Brady Wirtz capped off a 14-5 run with a three-point play that pushed the margin to 55-45.
The Marines went inside to Jordan Race for two points and then picked up a pair of steals that led to fastbreak layups for Lukas Peterson quickly cutting the score to 55-51.
“We were down ten, but we knew we were going to keep battling,” Nelson said. “We’ve been in a lot of close games, and I think that made a difference tonight.”
After a West Bend miss, Sam Sommerfeldt fought through contact in the lane and scored to make it a two-point game.
The Suns pushed back with a bucket from Wirtz and a free throw from Cutler Schmidt.
Peterson answered with a three, and, after a defensive stop, Chase MacGregor hit from long range to give the Marines their first lead of the game at 59-58 with 2:29 to play.
“When we finally took that lead it was like we were finally able to get over the hump,” Nelson said. “The whole game we were battling back to get it to two or get it to one, but to finally take the lead it got us over the hump and our energy carried us the rest of the way.”
On West Bend’s ensuing possession, Sommerfeldt snared a steal and fed Peterson for a layup to extend the lead to 61-58 entering the game’s final minute.
To that point, West Bend had been whistled for only one foul in the second half. While the Marines had been irked at the lack of calls, the situation worked out in their favor as West Bend had to burn 20 seconds on the clock with six consecutive fouls to reach the bonus and send Marinette to the free throw line.
“That’s playoff basketball,” Nelson said. “(The officials) don’t want to decide the game. They want the teams to decide it. I told our guys all night, we’ve got to be physical and aggressive because it’s a different atmosphere. They’re not blowing the whistle at everything.”
The Marines missed on the front end of a one-and-one situation, leaving West Bend with 29.5 seconds to work with, but the Suns were unable to get a clean look at the rim.
Peterson pulled down the rebound of a desperation attempt, and Marinette held on for a 61-60 win.
Marinette bottled up the Suns’ long-range attack in the second half, allowing only two made three-pointers. They also held Twito to only five points in the second half.
“Defensively in the second half and especially in the last three minutes, we didn’t give up anything,” Nelson said. “We locked in on the defensive end. We were able to get some stops, and that was the difference.”
Sommerfeldt led the Marines with 18 points. Jacobson finished with 10. Peterson, who was in early foul trouble, scored all of his nine points in the second half.
Twito led all scorers with 21 points, while Lukas Kiefer finished with 12 and Mason Roos contributed 11 points for West Bend.
The Suns, who compete in the North Shore Conference, finish their season at 1-24. Marinette improved to 5-20.
Up Next
Marinette will travel to Ashwaubenon tonight where they will take on the top-seeded Jaguars. That game is scheduled for a 7 p.m. tipoff.
Marinette 61, West Bend East 60
West Bend East 38 22 — 60
Marinette 34 27 — 61
Marinette: Sommerfeldt 18, Jacobson 10, Peterson 9, MacGregor 8, Race 6, Eastman 4, Bailey 3, Noel 3. FT’s 4-7.
West Bend East: Twito 21, Kiefer 12, Roos 11, Wirtz 9, Schmidt 3, Hesse 2, Gates 2. FT’s 6-10.
Most Popular
Comments / 0