March 6, 2017 at 4:13 p.m.
East ends Rhinelander's run
Hodags beat Bluejays, fall to Lumberjacks in WIAA regionals
East ends Rhinelander's run
Wausau East used an 11-0 run to start the second half and held off the Hodags 59-53 Saturday in a WIAA Division 2 regional final in Wausau. Rhinelander made its deepest playoff run in three years thanks to a win on its home court a night earlier, 58-55 over Merrill.
The Hodags (14-9, 8-4 Great Northern) trailed by two at the break Saturday night following an Owen White 3 just before the buzzer, but East came out hot to start the second. The tone was set a little over a minute into the half when Sawyer Schlindwein airballed a 3 for Wausau East, but Michael LaPree saved the offensive rebound from going out of bounds and chucked it to Matt Tuman for an open triple. LaPree connected from downtown the next trip down the floor as Wausau East (16-7, 6-6 Wis. Valley) quickly built a 35-22 advantage.
Despite trailing by two, the Hodags struggled in the first half, shooting 7 of 19 from the floor and committing nine turnovers. Hodag coach Derek Lemmens said his halftime message to the team backfired.
"We came out of the half really flat and I think that's on me," he said. "I didn't have them ready to start. I think I have to do a better job at halftime of picking guys up. I think I took the wind out of our sails a little bit."
Rhinelander spent much of the second half chopping into the Lumberjacks' advantage. Brad Comer, on his 17th birthday, hit his fourth 3 of the night to bring Rhinelander within 50-47 with 3:16 remaining, but White was called for his fourth foul going for a rebound on the other end with 2:58 to go. Schlindwein made both ends of a 1-and-1 to put the lead back to five.
White answered with a baseline drive, but East responded when Tuman found Thomas Dunbar for a backdoor layup. White fouled out moments later going after a loose ball.
"Defensively, you know, we really struggled with their speed and their athleticism the whole night," Lemmens said. "When we really needed that big stop we just weren't able to get it."
The Hodags got out to an 8-2 lead in the contest, but East used an 11-0 run to take a 13-8 advantage with 7:09 left in the half. The Lumberjacks' balance was too much for Rhinelander to overcome. Schlindwein led the way with 17 points as East shot 50 percent (21 of 42) from the field. Dunbar added 14, Tuman had 10 and LaPree added nine.
White had 23 points to lead all scorers but, aside from Comer's 12, had little help from his teammates in the scoring department. The Hodags' offense was hindered when point guard Reeve Craig picked up his second personal foul only 1:33 into the contest. He picked up his third foul later in the first half and eventually fouled out with 44 seconds remaining. The Hodags committed 15 turnovers in the game with Craig's minutes limited. Rhinelander had only four turnovers a night earlier in the win over Merrill.
"Early on, nerves a little bit, some carelessness with the basketball and some foul trouble," Lemmens said. "A whole bunch of things just accumulated and we just found ourselves in a tough spot."
Against Merrill, it was the Hodags who used a second half run to pick up their first home playoff win since 2014. Rhinelander took the lead for good with 12:30 remaining on a Junior Howard 3, part of a 15-4 spurt that put the Hodags ahead 47-37 with 5:38 remaining. Yet, as the Hodags struggled to do at times this season, they could never deliver the knockout blow. Ben Tabor hit a 3 to trim the lead to five with a minute to play and Zach Mootz, who led all scorers with 23, hit a contested 3 from the top of the key to cut the lead to 2 with 10 seconds left.
Craig made one of two free throws with 3.4 seconds left and then stole the Merrill inbound pass at half court to finally secure the victory.
"We had opportunities to close the door, but I'm proud of this team's resilience because when teams do claw back, like we saw against Antigo and we've seen it before, they find away to come back and finish it anyway," Lemmens said. "It was a good job by them and they made plays late. Merrill gave everything they had and made some big plays, but they guys held on."
White finished with 11 points for the Hodags in the contest. With Merrill using a combination of 2-3 and box-and-1 zones to limit the 6-5 junior's post touches, Rhinelander's seniors stepped up in the final game on their home floor. Matt Reinthaler had 14 points, including 12 in the first half as the Hodags lead 27-25 at the break. All 11 of Craig's points came in the second half and Easton Senoraske added seven.
Lemmens said the three, and seldom-used reserve Matt Rudolph, all made a significant impact on the team this season.
"It's a really good group of guys and all four of them just have such great attitudes," he said. "They're just such good kids and we're so lucky to be able to coach those types of kids. We're thankful for that. Not all programs have that ... These guys weren't gifted athletically, but they just found ways to be impact players."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
Comments:
You must login to comment.