January 14, 2019 at 1:04 p.m.
Reserves for the road
Bench, defense carry Hodags past Antigo 67-54
Reserves for the road
The Hodags got a combined 31 points off the bench from Ross Skeen and Quinn Lamers, put the clamps on Antigo sharpshooter Sebastian Noskowiak and rolled to a 67-54 win over the Red Robins Friday night at Sheldon Fieldhouse.
The win moved Rhinelander into sole possession of second place in the GNC (6-5, 3-1 Great Northern), a game and a half behind conference-leading Mosinee, with the two teams set to meet this Friday at the Jim Miazga Community Gymnasium.
Defense was a key for Rhinelander, as the Hodags held the Red Robins to just over 38 percent shooting from the field (20 of 52). More importantly, Rhinelander kept Antigo (3-9, 2-2), which had made 21 3-pointers in its first two conference games, to 5 of 20 from beyond the arc. That included a 2-of-10 night for Noskowiak, who came in averaging 18.5 points per game in conference play.
"I thought their key guys, we did pretty nice job of knowing where they were on the court and contesting them," Hodag coach Derek Lemmens said. "I thought, we put the numbers (of who to stop) on the board (in the locker room) and the guys did a great job of not allowing those big number players to get good looks.
"I thought, defensively, guys came and they executed the game plan pretty well and that's big for us. We need to become a better defensive team and I thought, tonight, we took a step in the right direction."
While Antigo struggled from distance, the Hodags excelled - especially early in the contest. Rhinelander hit 7 of its first 10 attempts from downtown, building a 31-23 lead with 3:54 remaining in the first.
The Hodags held that eight-point advantage at halftime, and responded after Antigo made a run to cut the lead to 39-36 just more than three minutes into the second half. A Lamers 3 capped off an 8-0 run that pushed the lead to 11. Later Skeen delivered a knockout with a triple that put Rhinelander up 57-44 with 5:07 remaining.
Rhinelander finished 9 of 23 from distance, and 48 percent from the field (24 of 50) overall.
"We have guys that can shoot, guys that can make the 3-ball but we did a nice job of not falling in love with it," Lemmens said. "Shots fell early but we continued to look inside."
Rhinelander had four players score in double digits, but their two top scorers weren't in the starting five. Skeen led the way with 16 points, and Lamers had 15 off the bench.
"Both of them played really well, offensively. They're hunting their shot," Lemmens said. "Ross and Quinn are both confident shooters and they're coming along. They're sophomores. We've got to remember that. We're in game 11 and they're starting to get that varsity maturity."
Bryce Schickert added 11 points for Rhinelander and Peyton Erikson chipped in 10.
Milo Whitman had 21 points for Antigo, Nevin Cornelius scored 15 and Tanner Resch scored 10 for the Robins.
"We slept a little on the role players and didn't execute at times with that but, sometimes, you've got to give something," Lemmens said. "It's little mistakes we can shore up."
Friday night's game closed out a tough five-game road stretch for the Hodags that saw the team go 3-2. The Hodags come home tonight to face Medford and kick off a big week in conference play.
"We've just got to keep pounding away," Lemmens said. "We've got to get better with the basketball. Against Medford, they're going to be a lot of pressure. We've got to handle that better than we did tonight, and just continue to get those inside looks and defend."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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