By Jared Schmeltzer
Reporter

On Tuesday night the Merrill boys basketball team traveled to Mosinee for a non conference game with the Indians. Merrill was in total control right from the tip and would take down Mosinee by a final score of 68-48.

Merrill head coach Jake Schalow points to his defense as a major factor in the win. “To hold a team with that much fire power to 30% shooting shows how solid of a defensive performance our players had,” he said.  “We talked before the game about protect the paint and forcing them to be a jump shooting team, and I thought that we did a great job then cleaning up the glass and limiting offensive rebounds.”

The first half of play was all Merrill, with the Bluejays taking a 16 point lead into the halftime break as they led the Indians 35-19.

In the second half Mosinee was able to keep pace with the Jays, however Merrill would still outscore the Indians 33-29 on their way to a 20 point win.

Coach Schalow was also pleased with the Jays team play saying, “Offensively, I thought we did a great job of pushing the ball and getting transition opportunities. We also did a very good job of passing and finding the open player. I think having 19 assists on 26 made shots is solid.”

Quinn Steckbauer would lead the Jays offensively, scoring 21 points with three rebounds, five assists and four steals. Chase Bonnell had 19 points, six rebounds, three assists and two steals. Caleb Timm scored 11 points, had eight rebounds and two blocks. Michael Casper scored 11 points to go with three rebounds and three assists.

The Jays are now 10-3 on the year with a conference record of 4-1. Merrill will be back on the court on Friday as they host Wausau East in a conference game, starting at 7:15 p.m.