December 14, 2020 at 8:49 a.m.
Hodag hoops uses second-half surge to down Mosinee 71-57
Hodag hoops uses second-half surge to down Mosinee 71-57
On the strength of a 19-0 run early in the second half, Rhinelander raced by Mosinee 71-57 Friday night at the Jim Miazga Community Gymnasium. Travis Towne scored 24 to lead three Hodags in double digits while Mosinee, paced by Cyle Kowalski's 32, did all it could to keep up down the stretch.
Trailing 25-23 less than two minutes into the second half, the Hodags (2-1, 1-0 Great Northern) held the Indians (2-2, 1-1 Great Northern) scoreless over the next 5 minutes, 17 seconds and turned a two-point deficit into a 17-point lead.
"Guys really handled pressure well and I thought the ball moved really well," Hodag coach Derek Lemmens said. "That was the big thing we were talking about on offense in the first half. We were really kind of in between bases, not moving the way we need to and not having a lot of purpose. Once we spaced out, opened up the court, we were able to get some layups and, from those layups, better shots blossomed from there."
Rhinelander led by as many as 18 in the second half. Mosinee inched to within 10 at 65-55 with 1:28 left, but the Hodags, who were only 6-5 in GNC play last year when holding a second-half lead, salted the game away by going 21 of 29 from the foul line.
Kowalski scored 21 of the last 29 points for Mosinee, but it was too little, too late.
"There's just no quit and Kowalski hit some big shots late, and some difficult ones," Lemmens said.
"Many of them were defended as well as you can defend it, but the guys finished it and that's what matters," Lemmens added. "We fouled down the stretch a little bit, made the clock last a little longer than we wanted. A lot that we can learn from and it's always nice to learn from a win."
Rhinelander only trailed briefly on two occasions in the contest. Towne came out firing for the Hodags. Three days after being held scoreless in a 66-52 loss to Marathon, the 6-4 senior hit his first four attempts from 3-point range, helping Rhinelander to an early 19-12 lead. Towne made only two more field goals the rest of the way, but was 8 of 9 from the foul line in the second half and added a team-high seven rebounds.
"It was great to see. He came out and hit early. He has that ability," Lemmens said. "That's the nice thing about him. If he can continue to develop confidence inside, he's going to be a very difficult person to guard because he can stretch out the bigs and he can post up guys that are smaller. It was great to see him have a game like this and get some confidence."
Mosinee's Jake Placek ended the first half on a personal 6-0 run to pull the Indians within one at 21-20 at the break. Michal Dul splashed a 3 to give Mosinee a 23-21 edge, and then the teams traded a pair of baskets before Rhinelander's decisive push.
Quinn Lamers added 17 points for Rhinelander as the Hodags finished 44.9% from the floor (22 of 49). Jacksen Smith added 10 points to make it three straight games to start the season in double-digit scoring and Ross Skeen chipped in nine.
Drayton Lehman scored seven of his nine points in the second half for Mosinee, despite picking up three fouls in quick succession in the first 1:54 of the second. Mosinee finished the night 38.3% (18 of 47) shooting.
"Our intensity was really good defensively, right from the start and I thought it continued," Lemmens said. "They got a lot of their points from the free throw line, something we'll continue to work on, but I thought they had to make some very difficult shots. Kowalski had to make some very difficult shots. For a third game, I was really just pleased with our effort."
Lemmens added that Rhinelander seemed refocused following a non-conference loss Tuesday against Marathon in which the Hodags never led.
"I think this team now sees that, when we play the right way - because it's not like we shot the lights out - but their intensity and getting the job down defensively allows us to hang around. Then when those shots do fall, we're able to pull away," he said.
The Hodags traveled to Northland Pines Monday to make up a GNC contest against the Eagles that was originally scheduled for Dec. 4, but postponed due to COVID concerns. Next up, Rhinelander heads to Raider Hall Friday night for a matchup with the defending GNC-champion Medford.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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