Marathon boys dominate second half to take down Auburndale in sectional semifinal

WESTON – The first half of the Division 4 boys sectional semifinal between Marathon and Auburndale looked to be a repeat of the team's first two regular season matchups.

Marathon, which lost both Marawood Conference South Division contests, held a 28-24 after the first half of play.

The final 18 minutes belonged to Marathon, which used a 50-point half to cruise to a 78-54 sectional semifinal win over Auburndale in an electric atmosphere at D.C. Everest High School. 

"They were able to get the ball inside on us, especially in the first half," Auburndale coach Chad Weinfurter said. "Even though we held it to four, I thought it set the tone for them in the second half."

Donavon Free and Carter Hanke spearheaded the second half surge for Marathon, tallying 33 of the team's points.

After the Raiders failed to hit a 3-pointer in the first half, Free buried three 3-pointers early in the second half to give the Raiders a cushion it would never relinquish.

"Our key to each game is to play inside-out," Free said. "In the first half, we got the ball inside and that opened up some outside shots in the second half."

After Free's triples, Hanke started attacking the Auburndale defense to widen the Marathon lead. Auburndale was able to put together a couple of runs, but could not sustain any to threaten the Raiders' lead. 

Marathon held a 19-point advantage with about five minutes to play before sealing the victory with free throws down the stretch.

"We talked all year about how we wanted to be playing our best basketball right now," Hanke said. "We really showed our best in the second half, especially coming out of halftime."

Free scored a game-high 26 points, 20 of which came in the final half, to lead Marathon. Hanke added 13 second half points and 21 points overall while Nathan Stoffel chipped in 18 points despite battling foul trouble. Cameron Schilling rounded out a balanced attack by tallying nine points. 

"We knew it was going to be a physical game tonight and we thought we could use that to our advantage," Stoffel said. "When we played them earlier in the year, we were terrible from the free throw line and our rebounding was bad."

This time around, Marathon used its size and strength to get to the basket and finish in traffic. The Raiders also got to the free throw line 38 times, converting 23 attempts.

Marathon will now prepare to battle Shiocton at 1 p.m. on Saturday at Wausau East High School, with the winner advancing to state.

"After that second loss to Auburndale, we talked about the next six weeks and how we needed to control what we could," Marathon coach Adam Jacobson said. "That was to do everything we possibly could to get better at everything that doesn't take talent, like being a good teammate and good communicator. Those little things are paying off as we are playing our best in March."

Cooper Weinfurter led Auburndale with 18 points while Cale Jacoby had 12 points. Cason Schmutzer and Colton Wright each added nine points. 

Schmutzer also grabbed seven rebounds and had three steals while Jacoby had five boards and two steals.

Auburndale connected on two more 3-pointers and converted 17-of-21 free throws, but its offense could not keep up with Marathon's offense that was clicking on all cylinders. 

Auburndale finishes the season with a 21-5 record overall after claiming the Marawood South title with a 12-4 mark. 

"It was a great feeling winning the conference and we thank the seniors for everything they brought to us," Cooper Weinfurter said. "Now, us underclassmen need to keep working to build off this year."

Auburndale will graduate four seniors from its team this year, including Jacoby, Schmutzer, Colten Yeske and Cameron Ertl. 

"This team is wonderful because we played together, no one got on each other," Schmutzer said. "I'll remember this year thanks to coach, who put everything he had into this team. We gave it out all."

Marathon 28 50 – 78

Auburndale 24 30 – 54

Marathon (78): Cameron Schilling 9, Karl Rihn 2, Nathan Stoffel 18, Carter Hanke 21, Donavon Free 26, Lucas Barber 2. 

Auburndale (54): Cooper Weinfurter 18, Cale Jacoby 12, Cason Schmutzer 9, Aaron Marth 1, Colten Yeske 4, Cameron Ertl 1, Colton Wright 9. 

3-pointers: Marathon 5 (Free 4, Schilling); Auburndale 7 (Weinfurter 3, Schmutzer 2, Wright 2. 

Records: Marathon 21-4; Auburndale 20-5.