Faced with a second-half deficit, the third-ranked and
back-to-back defending State Champion Stevens Point Area Senior High School
(SPASH) boys basketball team turned it up down the stretch to beat Marshfield (6-7, 3-3) at
the SPASH Fieldhouse Tuesday, Jan. 24.

The Panthers (12-1, 6-0) fell behind by double digits in the
first half and trailed 31-25 at halftime before they went on to a 71-60 win to extend
their Wisconsin Valley Conference (WVC) winning streak to 45 games.

“Marshfield
is playing really well right now, so that was a good win for us,” said junior
forward Joey Hauser. “Especially since we just added me and (senior guard)
Spencer (Tyson), so it’s a lot different.

“That second half we finally pulled it together and got the
‘W,’” he said.

“It was a hard-fought game,” said SPASH boys basketball head
coach Scott Anderson. “Marshfield’s
a really good team, they play extremely hard and to start the game we didn’t
match their intensity and desire and they outplayed us and outworked us.

“At about the six-minute mark or so of the first half, we
kind of figured out how hard we had to play and compete, and we matched their
level and were able to make a few stops and then make some baskets and reeled
them back in by halftime,” he said. “And then I thought we just played much
better basketball throughout the second half and were able to finish that thing
off.”

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