November 27, 2017 at 2:02 p.m.
Upset dreams SPASHed
Blair, Hauser rally state champion Panthers past Hodags in OT 79-69
Upset dreams SPASHed
Blair scored Stevens Point's final 18 points of regulation and the Panthers' dynamic duo combined to score 72 overall as SPASH rallied on its home floor to defeat the Hodags in overtime 79-69.
The Hodags led by eight, 56-48, with 2:54 remaining but a couple of miscues provided an opportunity for Blair - who exploded down the stretch and tied the game at 62 on an and-1 drive to the hoop with 37.7 seconds left in regulation - and the Panthers to rally in the season opener.
"We had them. We had them and we just didn't close out," Hodag coach Derek Lemmens said afterward.
Blair missed a long two and Drew Cullen couldn't score a put back just before time expired. Hauser, who has committed to play at Division-I Marquette, hit a 3 a minute into the extra session and followed it up with a couple of made free throws. SPASH never looked back.
While moral victories don't show up in the win-loss ledger, the Hodags can take some solace in knowing they pushed the state's best team over the past three seasons to the brink.
"We know we should have won that, but we're also excited for the future of the season," said Hodag senior Owen White, who led four Rhinelander players in double-digits with 21 points. "We've got Rapids Tuesday and looking at our schedule, after this game, we know we can beat any team that we play. That's kind of the attitude."
The Hodags had a number of little things go wrong down the stretch, which prevented them from pulling off the upset. Guard Brad Comer threw the ball away on an inbound play following a timeout with 2:54 left and Blair scored on a drive to the hoop to cut the lead to six.
Brock Lieder answered on the other end. Back-to-back buckets by Blair bookended a missed hurried 3 by Junior Howard and trimmed the gap to 58-54 with 2:09 to play. White hit a pair of free throws to push the lead back to six before Blair knocked down a deep 3. After that, Lieder had two chances to put the Hodags up two possessions, but missed a pair of front ends of 1-and-1 free throws.
After Blair tied it, the Hodags had a chance to get the ball back for the last shot, but turned the ball over. White was called for traveling after he and Cullen collided in mid-air on the inbound pass. Lemmens said he felt that Cullen should have been called for a foul.
"We can complain about the things that are out of our control when we control all the things that we can, and we didn't," he said. "We missed some clutch free throws. We had a bad turnover on the inbound, when we had timeouts left. It's the first game and that gave them an opportunity."
Rhinelander led much of the contest. An early 11-0 run capped off by a Howard 3 gave the Hodags a 16-8 advantage. The Hodags played with that lead the rest of the first half. Hauser hit a 3 in the final minute to trim the gap to 30-27 at the break.
The 6-8 Hauser scored the first six points of the second half to put SPASH ahead 33-30, before the Hodags responded. The teams traded the lead 10 times in the second half before a Brad Quade three-point play gave the Hodags a 47-46 lead with 6:05 remaining and sparked an 11-2 push that gave Rhinelander an eight-point cushion in the closing minutes.
That was good, but not good enough to stop Hauser and Blair, who scored 57 of SPASH's 62 points in regulation and all but two of the team's 17 points in the extra session. Blair finished with 37 points while Hauser had 35 points and nine rebounds.
"Our goal was to keep them below 30 (points, combined), so I guess we didn't come very close to our goal," Lemmens said. "That was our problem. We did not focus well on where their bread's buttered. We really wanted to make someone else beat us and we didn't. We've got to learn from this because in the tournament we're going to face some really good players. We've got to find a way to stop them."
Added White, "When you know your game plan going in is to stop two players and they can still put up those kind of numbers, they're good. That's about all you can say. They're really, really good."
Howard, making his first start at point guard, had 12 points for the Hodags. Quade chipped in 11 off the bench and Lieder finished with 10 as the Hodags shot just over 50 percent from the field (27 of 52).
"We have a lot of guys who can score from anywhere on the court," White said. "We worked really well together. In transition, we pushed it well. We took care of the ball, which is something we haven't been doing in our scrimmages."
The Hodags have their home opener tonight against Wisconsin Rapids, another tough Wisconsin Valley Conference foe. Lemmens said the key for the Hodags is to use Friday's loss as motivation, and not merely rest on the laurels of nearly knocking off the three-time champs.
"If we're just satisfied and say, 'we played them,' and that's as far as we take it, then this is a waste," he said. "We've got to say where can we get better, how can we get better and how can we finish a team like this off in the future.
"We just have to come out and play this way. If we play like this, we're going to be a heck of a team."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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