Raiders rebound from loss
By Casey Krautkramer
A team never wants to lose a game but Marathon varsity boys head coach Adam Jacobson and his players are using the team’s only defeat this season, 61-58, to Division 2 Mosinee on Jan. 15 as a learning experience to help them during the final stretch of the regular season and in the Division 4 playoffs.
“For one, the game atmosphere in Mosinee’s gym and how the game came down to the final possession can only help us, right?,” Jacobson said. “Obviously you want to win every game but also you realize how fragile winning is. Winning and losing sometimes comes down to a possession here or there like it did against Mosinee. Our players are hungry to win and hopefully they are humble too, but unfortunately we weren’t able to get it done against Mosinee and we don’t get a do over so we can only learn from the loss and move forward.”
Marathon came out motivated in its very next game with a 75-51 road win against a pesky Athens squad on Thursday that deployed a zone defense to help prevent Red Raiders 6 foot, 10-inch senior center Grant Warren from dominating near the basket. Whenever Warren received the basketball, Athens would double team him which worked to limit his ability to score. The only problem was Warren is an all-around skilled basketball player who is also a great passer. Whenever he was double teamed, Warren would pass the ball to a teammate like senior Tyler Underwood or sophomore Drew Woelfel who was open while cutting down the lane to the basket. Warren led all Bluejays and Red Raiders players with six assists.
“Working through Athens’ zone, we had a couple possessions where we had six or seven straight passes until we got a layup, so if we keep doing that then we are going to be in good shape,” Warren said after the victory against the Bluejays.
Like his head coach, Warren said his team’s loss to Mosinee can only help it moving forward.
“Mosinee is a good Division 2 team so it was a good non-conference game for us,” he said. “We turned the ball over a lot in the second half against Mosinee which is ultimately what cost us the game at the end, so we need to clean that up because if we are playing in a crunch time game in the future and we turn the ball over that much again, it will cost us another game.”
Despite being double teamed in the post against Athens, Warren still scored a game-high 20 points and he grabbled a game-high 14 rebounds. Underwood added 15 points and four assists. Woelfel contributed 13 points while senior Cooper Hoeksema and sophomore True Thurs had 10 points apiece.
Thurs returned to play against Athens after being out with an injury for four games, including the team’s 60-39 road victory against Auburndale on Jan. 9. Thurs was happy to be back in Marathon’s starting lineup against Athens and he said his senior teammate, Andrew Glennon, did an admirable job starting in his place while he was injured.
“It felt great to be back,” Thurs said after the win against Athens. “I think Andy did a great job. We can always count on him to be a spark for our offense.”
Athens sophomore point guard Riley Schultz-Becker led his team with 19 points, while draining three of five three pointers, in the home loss to Marathon. He also led the Bluejays with eight rebounds See BOYS BASKETBALL ACTION/ page 10
HE’S BACK!- Marathon sophomore guard True Thurs returned to the team’s starting lineup on Thursday against Athens, after missing four games with an injury. Thurs scored 10 points and dished out three assists in his return to the basketball court. Senior
guard Andrew Glennon did an admirable job in Thurs’ place while he was injured. PHOTO/CASEY KRAUTKRAMER Boys basketball action
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and five assists. Senior Andy Schaer added 14 points and freshman Daxton Diethelm had nine.
Bluejays head coach Jeramie Penney was proud of his team’s effort against the Red Raiders.
“Our energy was great,” he said. “We had some unfortunate things happen too this week since our home win against Nekoosa. Our big guy that started for us against Nekoosa, Brandon Krause, is now out for the season with a knee problem. Brayden Frahmann was sick the last two days before our game against Marathon, but I thought our small lineups really performed well against Marathon. We haven’t played much zone defense this season but we threw a lot of it at Marathon, but it is a good team that figured our zone out. We learned against Marathon that it doesn’t matter how good the team is that we are playing against because if we play hard, than good things are going to happen.”
Marathon won its second straight road game on Tuesday, 63-44, against Stratford. Warren led the Red Raiders with a game-high 21 points, 13 rebounds and five assists. Underwood added 10 points. Marathon held each of Stratford’s players to no more than four rebounds. Tigers junior point guard Drew Bruesewitz was his team’s only player to reach double figures with 19 points.
Marathon improves its record to 9-0 in the Marawood Conference and 14-1 overall this season. Marathon plays its first game against arch-rival Edgar this season at 7:15 p.m. this Friday, Jan. 26, at home.
Stratford falls to 6-3 in the Marawood South and 11-4 overall. Stratford was able to beat Phillips, 53-36, on the road Friday. Senior guard Brady Schmidt led the Tigers with 13 points against the Loggers.
Athens falls to Rib Lake again
The Bluejays varsity boys basketball team on Tuesday lost to Rib Lake, 5631, on the road. Schultz-Becker led Athens with 19 points and senior Ryan Peel paced the squad with three steals. Athens also lost to Rib Lake, 69-49, on Dec. 12 at home. The Redmen are now the frontrunner to win the Marawood North Conference this season. Athens now has a 2-7 record in the Marawood North and is 5-9 overall this season.
GETTING THINGS UNDER CONTROL - Athens junior Brayden Frahmann grabs ahold of the loose ball near the end of his team’s loss to Marathon. He is guarded by Marathon senior Nathan Huebsch. In the background is Marathon freshman Ean Shuda guarding Athens sophomore Jordan Frahm.
STAFF PHOTO/CASEY KRAUTKRAMER
