February 15, 2019 at 12:45 p.m.
Hodag hoops snaps 5-game losing streak
Hodag hoops snaps 5-game losing streak
Bryce Schickert led six Hodags with eight points or more as the Hodags defeated Tomahawk 72-49 at the Jim Miazga Community Gymnasium. The win snapped a losing streak that extended to five games a night earlier with a 61-49 loss at Medford.
"That was a long drought for us," coach Derek Lemmens said of the Hodags longest losing streak since skids of five and seven games during the 2010-11 season, his first year as Rhinelander coach. "We're not used to that and it was good for those guys to have that happen. They need that too. It's hard to stay positive when you're falling short. Just getting that W just brought a bit of rejuvenating energy to us."
The Hodags used a 16-6 run over the final eight minutes of the first half to build a lead it would not relinquish. Rhinelander pushed the lead to 30 points late in the second before turning the game over to the bench.
"I thought we were able to get some steals, get out in transition and really push the basketball," Lemmens said. "We got some dribble penetration, some nice post touches, some mismatches inside. Then we had some drive and kick 3s in the second half. That's when we really started to get that separation, when guys made that extra pass and we started to make some 3s."
Schickert had 12 points and six rebounds to lead a balanced Hodag attack. Brock Lieder had 11 points. Quinn Lamers and Peyton Erikson each had nine points while Junior Howard and Ross Skeen chipped in eight points each.
Twelve guys played and 10 players scored for the Hodags in the contest. In the middle of playing back-to-back-to-back nights, Lemmens said it was critical to extend his bench Thursday night.
"Then we were able to play a lot of guys, which was important because, with that third game, I don't think guys realize how tired they're going to be," he said.
Medford 61, Hodags 49
A cold start proved to be too much for the RHS boys' basketball team to overcome as it lost by 12 Wednesday night to Medford at Raider Hall.
Rhinelander shot only 5 of 21 from the field in the first half, fell behind and could not recover in a battle of two middle-of-the-road teams in the GNC.
"Our offense was just inconsistent tonight and didn't have a great rhythm," Lemmens said. "Part of that is Medford's defense and part of it is we're either trying to do too much, or not enough. There aren't guys saying, 'This is my job,' and doing it."
Rhinelander hung around in the first half, thanks to defense, and only trailed 22-13 at the break. The Hodags made a push to cut the lead to 32-27 with 10:13 left in the second half, but Medford made 3s on its next two offensive possessions and never led by fewer than eight points the rest of the way.
Wednesday night's second half is a pattern that was repeated on a number of occasions during the Hodags' five-game skid.
"Every time we made something happen, they responded. When we start making our run, we can't get the stops to complement it," he said. "I think we did some things better but we just haven't put it all together. We just haven't had a consistent showing from multiple guys. That's the problem. We have one or two guys that are having good games and they're not being complemented by good games. The other guys are struggling."
Howard had 18 points for the Hodags and Drake Martin chipped in 11. Justin Sullivan led Medford with 16 points, Zach Haynes hit four 3-points for Medford had 14 points. Peyton Kuhn added 12 for the Raiders.
A dire seeding situation
Friday night's game against Antigo, which concluded after deadline, was Rhinelander's last chance to polish its resume ahead of this weekend's seeding meeting for the WIAA tournament. Lemmens thought the Hodags could end up anywhere from a No. 7 seed to a No. 10 seed depending on the outcome of that game, and Antigo's game this afternoon against Lakeland.
"We need to win on Friday," Lemmens said following Wednesday's loss to Medford. "It really made that a must-win situation to have any hope for a decent seed, otherwise we're going to be playing in a terrible spot. We don't want that."
The Hodags will make up a non-conference contest at Wisconsin Rapids Monday before closing out the regular season Thursday night at Mosinee.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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