December 17, 2018 at 11:12 a.m.
Fowl fest: Hodags pull away to beat Eagles 84-69
Tightly officiated game features 55 fouls
Fowl fest: Hodags pull away to beat Eagles 84-69
Rhinelander accomplished that. Junior Howard led three Hodags in double digits and Rhinelander outlasted Northland Pines 84-69 at the Jim Miazga Community Gymnasium.
As far as aesthetics were concerned, it wasn't the best game for Rhinelander (2-3, 1-1 Great Northern). The Hodags committed 17 turnovers, and 29 fouls, but found a way to beat an Eagle team that was equally sloppy.
"A win's a win, that what we said. If you win ugly, at least you're still winning," Rhinelander coach Derek Lemmens said.
Fouls made it difficult for either team to establish a rhythm. Both teams ended up in the double bonus in each half. There were a total of 55 fouls called, 66 free throws shot and three players who fouled out of the game.
"It was inconsistent," Lemmens said of the officiating. "It started out really touchy and then they seemed to let us play a little bit and have that flow and then they picked it back up again."
The whistles did work in Rhinelander's advantage, however. The Hodags closed the first half on an 11-1 run over the final 2 minutes, 25 seconds with Northland Pines' leading scorer Ryan Peterson on the bench with three personal fouls. It was by far the largest lead for either team after what was otherwise a back and forth first half.
"He's such an important player. He's such a challenging player to guard. When he's not on the court, that's a different team," Lemmens said of Peterson's presence. "He's really their heartbeat. He's a good player. He's a threat. He creates for his teammates. Him being out was something we had to take advantage of. It took us a little bit, but we were able to."
The Hodags stretched the lead to 21 points with 11:21 remaining and then held on after Pines chopped the lead to nine with 1:30 to play.
The good news for the Rhinelander defense, it held the Eagles a shade under 30 percent from the floor (20 of 67). The bad news, Rhinelander's streak of allowing 60 points or more extended to six games and the Hodags put the Eagles on the foul line 36 times.
"We have to clean up things we do defensively, starting with not fouling, improving our positioning," Lemmens said "We're still giving up a lot of points and we can't plan on outscoring teams. We need to start stopping."
Rhinelander shot 41 percent on the night, led by Howard's 18 points. He made 4 of 4 free throws and made a layup in transition off a steal in the final 90 seconds to help secure the win for the Hodags. Quinn Lamers had 17 for the Hodags, Peyton Erikson had 16, Bryce Schickert chipped in nine points and Ross Skeen had eight.
"We have a lot of guys that can put the basketball in the hole," Lemmens said. "When we play as a team, we can be difficult to guard. Again, just like defensively, our whole focus has to be keeping things simple. Sometimes we do too much, trying to score on one or zero passes. We just have to do a better job of being patient on both ends."
Peterson, hampered by foul trouble and a cold touch, was held to 14 points of 5 of 17 shooting. Max Lurvey picked up the scoring slack for the Eagles with a game-high 31 points to go along with nine rebounds. Luciano Svetnicka added 13 points for Pines.
The Hodags are back in action tonight, taking on Ashland in a non-conference matchup at the Miazga Gym.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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