January 31, 2018 at 1:33 p.m.
Surrogate success
Without coach Lemmens, Hodags knock down 16 3s, blast Wausau East 74-48
Surrogate success
The Hodags made 16 3-pointers and shot 57 percent overall Tuesday night as they routed Wausau East 74-48 at the Jim Miazga Community Gymnasium.
Rhinelander, which moved to No. 9 in Division 2 on Tuesday in the WisSports.net coaches poll and remained No. 10 in the AP poll, did it without head coach Derek Lemmens who was with his wife, Jenni, as the couple welcomed their second child - a daughter, Reagan Lynn - to the world Tuesday morning.
Assistant coach Kurt Zalewski called the shots from the bench Tuesday night and the team made his job easy at the rate they were hitting from beyond the arc.
"When it comes to shooting 3-pointers, when you're on you on," Zalewski said. "If we were off, it would have been a tough game. We tried to get the ball inside, but if they're going to leave it open on the outside for 3s, we're going to shoot them."
The Hodags were only 6 of 27 from distance last Friday as they escaped Lakeland with a 53-51 win. Rhinelander was 16 of 27 from downtown Tuesday in a performance that included five 3s from both Junior Howard and Owen White.
"I think part of it was getting back on our home court. We always shoot well here," Zalewski said. "The last couple of games we were off. The practices seemed to be good, but if you're off, you're off. Tonight, we were on. It was good."
Howard splashed three triples in an opening salvo that put Rhinelander ahead 18-4 less than six minutes into the contest. White picked up his second foul a short time later and East (1-14, 0-7 Wis. Valley) made its only significant push of the game, cutting the lead to 20-15 with 7:48 left in the first.
Rhinelander responded with 3s by Brock Lieder and Howard and cruised to a 39-26 advantage at the break.
White returned in the second half and it seemed as though he could not miss from the outside, connecting on five of his seven 3-point attempts.
White finished with a game-high 22 points while Howard had 19 for the Hodags. Brad Comer chipped in 11 as Rhinelander won its 14th straight game.
Though Wausau East shot nearly 65 percent for the game, the Hodags limited the Lumberjacks to only 31 shots attempts and forced 23 turnovers. Trey Buchberger, Ryan LaCerte and Gabe Krueger, who all entered the game averaging double-digit points per game, were all held under 10 points in the contest.
"That was part of our goal, shut down the 3-point line, shut down those guys," Zalewski said. "They can get in the lane when they want. We did give up some easy 3s and we addressed that a lot better in the second half."
Forrest Kronberger scored 17 points on 8 of 9 shooting off the bench to lead Wausau East.
With the way the Hodags performed Tuesday night, perhaps Lemmens will consider letting Zalewski call the shots more often.
"I don't know about that, Derek's a heck of a leader," Zalewski said, jokingly, adding that he's happy to retire as a head coach with a perfect 1-0 record. Lemmens was expected to be back with the team at Wednesday's practice and will coach the team Friday night when it takes on Northland Pines as the front end of a boys-girls doubleheader at the Miazga Gym. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
Comments:
You must login to comment.