February 28, 2020 at 1:03 p.m.
Everest roars past Hodags late 86-70
Everest roars past Hodags late 86-70
Then, in what seemed like a matter of 27 seconds, things went haywire.
D.C. Everest caught fire over the final nine minutes, and Rhinelander faded as it fell 86-70 to the Evergreens in the final regular season game of the season.
Rhinelander led 61-51 with nine minutes to play but it all went terribly wrong from there for the Hodags. Everest made 12 of its final 14 field goals attempts - including a stretch of 11 straight - during a decisive 35-9 run to end the game. Meanwhile, Rhinelander's offense sputtered. The Hodags committed a season-high 24 turnovers against D.C. Everest's press, many of which led to points in transition for the Evergreens (17-5, 10-2 Wis. Valley).
"We just started turning the ball over and here's the thing, we just don't have someone late in the game, when we need to close that just steps in and says, 'Give me the ball,'" Hodag coach Derek Lemmens said. "We had there five guys that did not want the ball. We were in a great spot. We had the lead and we really gave it away incredibly fast and, in the process, dug ourselves a hole."
It was just another in a string of close, competitive losses for the Hodags, who closed the regular season 8-14. The Hodags dropped three of their final four games to end the regular season - all against teams in the top half of the Wisconsin Valley Conference. Rhinelander led, or was within one possession with less than nine minutes to play in all three of those games, but had no reward for its efforts.
"It's a learning experience. It's something that we can take with us," Lemmens said. "This is the conference champs of the Wisconsin Valley and for three-fourths of that game we were in command. They have something they can be proud of, but I feel like this is kind of the broken record. Now we can have something to learn from moving forward. I'm hoping we're done learning now and we're schooled enough where we can start closing some games out."
Forwards Ethan Ostrowski and Keaton Edwards were matchup nightmares for Rhinelander in the second half. Ostrowski scored 15 of his-game high 22 points in the second half - including 11 during Everest's decisive run. Edwards scored 16 of his 20 points over the final 18 minutes, including a bucket with 6:32 remaining that put Everest in front 65-63.
Rhinelander's tempo quickened when Everest made its push, which led to missed shots and unforced turnovers that only amplified the snowball effect.
"I know they went 11 possessions straight scoring, but a lot of that is us turning the ball over, live ball turnovers, transition," Lemmens said. "You've got an incredibly talented team and you've got them on their heels and then you give them the mojo. You give them the energy. You give them the momentum. You give them the ball. We stopped being patient on offense. We just did so many things to help them get into a position where they could then flex their muscles."
D.C. Everest scored 43 points off turnovers in the contest. The Hodags' 24 turnovers matched a season-high set in a season-opening 60-59 loss at Shawano back on Nov. 26.
Rhinelander, aided by 8 of 13 shooting from 3-point range in the first half, led most of the way and took a 42-35 lead into the halftime locker room. Everest cut that lead to four early in the second half before Rhinelander responded with a 13-4 put to give the team a 59-46 lead with 10:42 remaining.
"We also showed great patience and poise on offense, really made them work defensively. Again, we just didn't it close out," Lemmens said.
Cade Sivertson added 17 points for Everest, Colton Hall had 13 and Bryan Halambeck had 12 as the Evergreens were 58.6% from the field on 34 of 58 shooting.
Ross Skeen and Jackson Labs each had 15 for lead Rhinelander. Quinn Lamers had 13 and Travis Towne added 11 off the bench as Rhinelander was 52% on the night on 26 of 50 shooting.
Trainer's room
Lamers left the game for Rhinelander with 6:06 remaining with a laceration above his left eye after battling Hall for a loose ball that led to a turnover and a Ostrowski basket in transition that put Everest ahead 67-63.
"That definitely hurts. He was a very important play for us tonight, but a lot of the damage was done before that too," Lemmens said. "It hurt, but they were missing their best player. We would have been a better team with him, but we just didn't find a way late. With our without him, I think we had dug ourselves a pretty bad hole."
Everest was without its leading scorer, Alec Stuedeman, most of the game. He collided with teammate Logan Ebersold on an inbound play roughly six minutes into the contest and left the game with a laceration to the side of his head.
Up next
Rhinelander, as a No. 7 seed, will host 10th-seeded Ashland (7-15) Tuesday in a WIAA Division 2 regional quarterfinal contest at the Jim Miazga Community Gymnasium. The winner will face second-seeded Merrill in the regional semifinals March 6. Tip-off for Tuesday's game is set for 7 p.m.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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