November 20, 2017 at 3:03 p.m.
White team pulls away in OT to take Hodag hoops intrasquad practice
White team pulls away in OT to take Hodag hoops intrasquad practice
Brad Comer hit three free throws with no time left in regulation and the White team rallied to defeat the Green team 61-51 in overtime in the Hodags' annual Green/White intrasquad practice.
The practice was as close as the Hodags could get to an actual game situation in the first week of the season. The varsity and JV squads were divided evenly among the two teams and went head-to-head in a simulated game that included everything from the announcement of the starting lineups to 18-minute halves and, this year, overtime.
"That was really competitive," RHS boys' basketball coach Derek Lemmens said. "Both groups, I thought they were broken down pretty evenly and I thought both teams played well together. I'm glad it's competitive because it just gets every little bit out of us when the entire game is competitive."
Standout 6-5 senior Owen White, who recently signed to play collegiately at Division II Michigan Tech, scored a game-high 17 points for the Green team, including a 3 over Comer with 42 seconds remaining in regulation to give his squad a 43-42 lead. Jared Haug hit both ends of a 1-and-1 with 14 seconds left to push the lead to three, but the White squad still had time to answer.
After a couple of missed desperation 3s, Comer pulled down an offensive rebound along the baseline and sprinted to the corner for one final toss before the horn. He missed, but was fouled on a late close-out attempt by Brock Lieder.
Needing to make all three free throws to extend the game with no time left on the clock Comer, a 5-11 senior guard, delivered.
"There's some valuable lessons learned there," Lemmens said of the exciting end to regulation. "We're finding out that guys can make clutch free throws down the stretch. We're finding guys who can handle pressure down the stretch. We got to see a lot of different things. We got to learn about closing out on shooters late in the game. There was a lot of situational stuff that we're a better team now for (having played tonight)."
The White team pulled away in the first two minutes of overtime with the JV units in for both sides. Threes by Deven Brunner and Ross Skeen gave the Whites a 51-45 advantage by the time the varsity returned to the court. Markus Johnson and White hit 3s for the Green team, cutting the lead to seven each time, but the White team was 8 of 10 from the line in the extra session to salt the game away.
Lemmens said the practice is a nice way to end a grueling opening week that included several two-a-day sessions and was a time for the coaching staff to closely evaluate personnel.
"We're really trying to find out who are our top rotation guys right now, what are really the key areas we need to focus our next practices on and then we go from there," he said. "Right now, we do a lot of things well but we have a lot of things we don't do well. Defensively, off the ball, we're not very disciplined. We're not communicating as much as we need to. Offensively, I thought we spaced pretty well tonight. We had some good actions but there was a lot of down time and unnecessary dribbles. Those are all thing that kill the offense. We just have to keep working on those things."
The White team was paced by three returning members of the varsity rotation. Junior Howard finished with 13 points. Brad Quade had 12, including a 3 that put the Whites up 42-40 with 1:30 left in regulation. Comer added eight. Brunner had nine for the JV unit as the White team was 41 percent (19 of 46) from the floor.
White had the play of the night with a steal and slam dunk in transition that tied the game at 22 with seconds left in the first half. Howard answered with a 3 on the other end to give the White team a three-point lead at the break.
Lieder had six points and Haug added five for a Green squad that shot 32 percent (19 of 59 on the night).
The Hodags scrimmaged Wausau West Monday night in Wausau and open the season this Friday at reigning three-time Division 1 state champion Stevens Point.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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