March 1, 2017 at 1:26 p.m.
Bring on the Bluejays
Hodags hope to restore home court advantage in WIAA tourney
Bring on the Bluejays
Those days seem like a distant memory for this year's Hodags, who open the playoffs against Merrill Friday night at the Jim Miazga Community Gymnasium in the WIAA Division 2 regional semifinals.
Lemmens won his first six home playoff games at the Miazga Gym, but things have taken a turn in recent years, beginning with a 52-49 loss to Mosinee two seasons ago followed by last year's 14-11 stunner against Antigo when the Robins took the pace of the game down to a glacial crawl.
This year's crop of seniors were freshmen the last time the Hodags won on their home floor in the tournament - part of a run to the sectional finals against a Henry Ellenson-led Rice Lake squad back in 2014 - but Lemmens insists this year's tournament is about writing some new history.
"We're going to try to not even think about that because the past is the past," Lemmens said of early exits in the last two postseasons. "No need to add any extra pressure. We just need to focus on the task at hand. But the last two years have been tough with the strange Antigo finish and then the game where I felt like we were outplayed by Mosinee on our court two years ago."
The Hodags (13-8, 8-4 Great Northern) have a little pep in their step right now, having won three straight heading into the postseason. That includes Owen White's game-winning hook shot with 3.1 seconds remaining last Thursday to send the Hodags past Lakeland 43-42 and into sole possession of second place in the Great Northern Conference.
The Bluejays (13-8, 6-6 Wis. Valley) come in on a hot streak of their own. A 73-71 win over Wisconsin Rapids last Tuesday was Merrill's fifth straight win, and sixth in seven games. Merrill's only loss in that stretch was to two-time defending Division 1 state champ Stevens Point.
"They're a young team this year and it's a team, as the season has gone on, that has gotten more and more experience and found more and more success," Lemmens said. "Their confidence is really high right now."
Lemmens said the Bluejays are a different team than the squad Rhinelander took on Jan. 13 in Merrill, a 55-47 overtime win for the Hodags. But Rhinelander has changed as well. That was only the second game back for White after missing the early portion of the season with a knee injury. It was also the Hodags' second game back from a 2 1/2-week break due to a pertussis outbreak.
"Our rotation is a little different and guys have found their groove a little more," Lemmens said. "We were still trying to find ourselves, and just coming back from that long break the first time we played them and you could see that in both our offense and our defense."
How the Hodags handled White's foul trouble defined the first meeting between the two squads. Rhinelander led 17-6 when White picked up his second foul with 6:40 remaining in the half. Merrill rallied to tie the game 22-22 at the break and lead by six with 3:53 remaining before the Hodags came storming back to force OT.
White scored a putback basket off a missed free throw and a 3 as part of a Hodag 6-0 run to start the extra session, but fouled out moments later. Merrill got back within three, but Rhinelander was able to hold on at the foul line over the final minutes.
White was one of three Hodags in double digits in the first meeting with 18 points and 12 rebounds. Junior Howard had 14 and Reeve Craig added 11.
On the other side 6-2 guard Zach Mootz had 18 points despite a 2-for-7 night from the field. He got to the foul line early and often for the Bluejays, going 13-of-14.
Mootz finished third in the Valley in scoring, averaging 18 points per game. He also shot a league-best 47.5 percent from 3-point range, averaged 5.7 rebounds per game and 3.3 assists.
"We can't let them get hot," Lemmens said. "They have the ability to make a lot of 3s, so we really have to defend the arc and we have to keep Mootz contained. We can't let him get into the lane. I think they shot 24 or 26 free throws against us at Merrill. We just have to keep them out of the lane where they can't draw those fouls and make them have to earn all their points."
Merrill was actually 24 of 29 from the line in the Jan. 13 contest. Forward Jared Ollhoff had 13 points in that meeting while Quinn Steckbauer added 11. Steckbauer averaged 10.8 points per game in the Valley this year while Ollhoff shot a conference-best 63 percent from the field.
Should the Hodags win Friday night, they will either travel to top-seeded Wausau East on Saturday or they could host ninth-seeded Mosinee, which knocked off Shawano 59-53 on Tuesday. Lemmens said neither result would be shocking, given the parity of the eastern half of this Division 2 sectional.
"With the way these teams are, there isn't a huge difference between the teams," he said. "I'd include the one and twos. One through 10 legitimately could win on any night. Anything could happen on any night. There's not an easy road. There's not a gimme game."
Wausau East, Medford, Lakeland and Rhinelander earned the top four seeds and home playoff games in round two, but the team everyone is keeping an eye on is sixth-seeded Hortonville, which knocked off Waupaca 76-34 on Tuesday, as the darkhorse in the field. Although the Polar Bears are only 8-14 overall, their overall strength of schedule makes them someone other teams are leery of in the bracket.
"That (win total) is deceptive," Lemmens said. "They're in the Fox Valley. They've played the No. 1 and No. 2 team in Division 1 four times and they were in all those games. This is a high-quality team."
The way the bracket falls, Rhinelander would not see Hortonville until next Thursday in the sectionals semifinals but, first thing's first, the Hodags need to take care of business at home Friday night.
"We definitely know that just because you're at home doesn't mean anything, but I think this team knows 1) the they can beat Merrill because they've already done it and 2) they've been a pretty strong team at home," Lemmens said. "We're looking forward to hopefully a good showing."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
Comments:
You must login to comment.