Marathon remains undefeated

Koeller four points shy of gaining 1,000

By Casey Krautkramer

Senior guard Jaden Koeller scored a game-high 26 points to lead Marathon’s boys basketball team to a 7150 non-conference home win against Neillsville on Monday.

Koeller only needs four more points to become the 10th Marathon boys basketball player in school history to achieve 1,000 career points. He’ll likely accomplish the career points feat this Thursday, Dec. 9, during Marathon’s game in Rib Lake.

Marathon head coach Adam Jacobson relishes having Koeller as his team’s floor leader this season.

“Jaden is a four-year varsity player and this is his third year as a starting player,” Jacobson said. “He possesses a wealth of experience, in which we’ll rely on as our younger players develop more experience. Jaden is one of the best shooters in our division in the state and he’s worked hard to develop his game on both offense and defense. He can handle the ball with physicality for us, make the extra pass to his teammates, play inside and get to the hoop and finish. Jaden has worked very hard to become a well-rounded player.”

Neillsville built an early lead against Marathon, but Jacobson was pleased his team kept its poise while battling back to enjoy a 36-23 halftime advantage.

“I was happy with how our team responded against taking a big early attack from Neillsville and getting down by 10 points early,” Jacobson said. “We did not panic; we regrouped, made some adjustments and went on a huge run the last nine minutes of the first half. We were able to get defensive stops and clear the glass after one shot, which then allowed us to run the floor and be the aggressor offensively.

“I was really happy with how we attacked the zone from the middle and we did an excellent job of making the extra pass and going from having a good shot to a great shot in our offense. Neillsville is going to have another solid season; it was an excellent non-conference opponent for our team. We learned a lot from this game that we can hopefully build off of as we now get back into Marawood Conference play with four games until Christmas.”

Grant Warren added 13 points against Neillsville and he led Marathon with seven rebounds. Warren is the lone underclassman in Marathon’s starting lineup which includes seniors Koeller, Ben Robbins, Noah Gage and Nathan Hanke. Jacobson expects Warren to continue developing his basketball skills.

“Grant has really improved since last season; he is now a six feet, eightinch sophomore who is quite skilled and smooth with the basketball,” Jacobson said. “In his varsity debut in our win against Auburndale, Grant had 15 points and 13 rebounds. Grant works very hard on his game and he has a very bright future in our basketball program.”

Juniors Drew Love and Griffin Treankler are two other top returners on Marathon’s varsity squad this season. Top newcomers besides Warren to the varsity team include senior guard Owen Marks, junior guards Mason Seehafer and Daniel LaQua, sophomore guard/forward Tyler Underwood and sophomore guard Cooper Hoeksema.

The Red Raiders remain undefeated in the young season with a 3-0 record, while the Warriors fall to 2-1. Marathon has also beaten Auburndale and Chequamegon thus far this season.

Jacobson is in the midst of his 11th season as Marathon’s varsity head coach. His assistant coaches are Claude Seubert, Alex Blume, Phil Seubert, Todd Stoffel and Chuck Woelfel.