December 26, 2018 at 12:50 p.m.
Hodags beat West again in battle of Lemmens bros.
Hodags beat West again in battle of Lemmens bros.
The Hodags made five consecutive field goals to start the second half - as many as they made over the first 18 minutes - and pulled away to a 57-44 victory at Wausau West.
It was the sixth meeting for Derek Lemmens against his younger brother, Nate, who coaches Wausau West. Derek is now 5-1 in the series having won the last four matchups between the teams.
West (2-6, 0-3 Wis. Valley) led 27-26 at the break as the Hodags (4-3, 1-1 Great Northern) struggled to buy a bucket, going 5 of 24 from the field.
Fortunes turned as junior Peyton Erikson hit back-to-back 3s to start the second, followed by a Drake Martin steal and transition layup that put the Hodags ahead 34-27. Bryce Schickert and Junior Howard added buckets on Rhinelander's next two offensive possessions as the Hodags took a 38-29 lead and never looked back.
"Guys came out right away firing. Peyton Erikson hit some big ones and that just gets things going," Derek Lemmens said. "Misses and makes are both contagious. We always stress not to miss more than two in a row. Unfortunately, in the first half, we missed a lot more than two in a row, but we were able to string some makes in the second half. Guys did a nice job of not letting that first half bother them, shooting-wise."
West closed back to within five thanks to a couple of buckets from Mitch Zahurones, who finished the night with 11 points and 12 rebounds. Rhinelander answered with an 11-0 run that put the game out of reach.
Howard, the Hodags' senior point guard, scored eight points in that stretch. He led all scorers with 20 points and looked again like Rhinelander's top scoring threat after being slowed by an ankle injury early in the season.
"We need him to be good. We need him to be aggressive. We need him to be confident," Lemmens said. "Tonight he was all of those things. He just needs to continue to have that mindset where he's thinking score when he's on the court. That's what he can do and he's got to believe that. I thought, tonight, he did a great job of picking his times and being aggressive."
Though the lead changed hands only three times in the contest, Rhinelander hung around in a back-and-forth first half that saw the game tied on five separate occasions. The Hodags trailed by six following a Logan White 3 with 7:11 left in the half, but went on a 9-3 run to tie it at 22 by the 4:54 mark.
With Rhinelander struggling from the field in the first half, the team's ability to get the free throw line kept it afloat. The Hodags were 13 of 16 from the line in the first half, and 15 of 18 overall.
"I think that's two games in a row now that the free throw battle has been crucial, and our ability to make those free throws when we got there," Lemmens said. "We're going to have games where we don't shoot well. We know that. They know that, but we've got to find other ways and that's one big way they took advantage of."
Rhinelander also cranked up the wick defensively. Though the Warriors shot 41 percent (19 of 46) from the field, the Hodags held an opponent to less than 50 points for the first time in eight games - since a 56-36 win over Antigo Feb. 16. Rhinelander also forced 14 Wausau West turnovers.
"I thought we did a pretty good job defensively," Lemmens said. "We finished plays. We still have some things to work on keeping guys in front, the straight line drives, but overall we held them to 44 and I really thought they had to earn a lot of their points."
White finished with 12 points and nine rebounds for Wausau West before fouling out in the game's final seconds. His night included a technical foul shortly after getting called for a charge with 9:27 remaining. Howard hit both technical free throws and then made a bucket on the ensuing possession during Rhinelander's decisive 11-0 spurt.
Erikson finished with 13 points for Rhinelander, which finished the night 35 percent (17 of 48) from the floor.
Afterward, the two coaching brothers and RHS alumni exchanged a quick handshake at half court. Derek Lemmens said the conversation was brief, "Just good game, like always," he said. The two will further digest the game over holiday meals.
"It's nice, afterwards, to really talk about the season and what's left of it," Derek Lemmens said. "It's something, now that this game's out of the way we can start to evaluate each other's teams, give each other some ideas and thoughts and we can just be on friendly terms again."
The Hodags will return to action tomorrow night at Waupaca in a non-conference contest.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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