February 1, 2021 at 9:54 a.m.
Hot-shooting Hodags take down Mosinee 73-56
Hot-shooting Hodags take down Mosinee 73-56
Quinn Lamers led four Hodags in double digits and Rhinelander hit 10 3-pointers in a 73-56 win at Mosinee. The win kept the Hodags (10-3, 7-1 Great Northern) 1 1/2 games behind Medford in the conference race, with the two teams set to meet again for the second time this Friday night in Rhinelander.
"We're in the race and still control our own fate," Rhinelander coach Derek Lemmens said, whose team won its sixth straight contest. "This was such an important win. If we don't get it, our chances of conference, they become pretty slim. Guys did a great job and came out ready to go right from the start."
Ross Skeen, Jacksen Smith and Lamers hit consecutive 3s as Rhinelander built an early 15-3 lead on Mosinee and the Hodags never trailed in the contest. Lamers hit three more triples late in the first half after Mosinee got within three points as Rhinelander ended the half on a 13-4 run over the final 5:12 to take a 37-25 lead at the break.
Mosinee never got any closer than nine points in the second half as the Hodags finished the night 48% from the field (23 of 48), 10 of 23 from beyond the arc and 17 of 18 from the foul line.
"That's huge. Travis Towne hit some big ones. Smith hit some big ones, (Jackson) Labs. Guys stepped up at key times," Lemmens said. "They were never able to get that run because we hit big shots. Quinn hit a huge 3 when they were starting to make a little run too. When we needed something to kill their spark, we did it."
Cyle Kowalski, honored before the game after becoming the all-time leading scorer in Mosinee basketball history, had 22 for the Indians on 9 of 18 shooting. Overall, however, Rhinelander made life difficult on Mosinee's offense.
"Kowalski got his, but he had to earn everything he got," Lemmens said. "That's important. He's going to get some stats. The only way we're going to stop him is if we completely commit to stopping him. That's going to give other guys really good looks. We said, 'You're going to have to beat us all by yourself,' and guys did a really nice job defending him."
The Indians finished the night 20 of 54 (37%) from the field, were only 3 of 16 from distance and Rhinelander had a 34-30 edge on the glass.
"I think, defensively, this might have been our best game, all-around," Lemmens said. "We played mainly man-to-man and guys, they did what they needed to do on their man and also provided their teammates support. There were a lot of one and dones. We finished played despite giving a significant amount of size. We matched their physicality so I thought it was really good all across the board."
Jackson Labs added a season-high 16 points for Rhinelander in the contest. Smith had 13 points, 10 rebounds and six assists while Skeen added 10 points for the Hodags.
"They shared the ball so well tonight, looking for guys when they had opportunities," Lemmens said. "We had a lot of next pass baskets. That's when you know things are going to go well, when guys are playing for each other and just playing unselfish."
Jake Placek had 10 points and seven rebounds for Mosinee (12-7, 7-3 Great Northern) while Davin Stoffel chipped in eight points and eight rebounds.
The Hodags return to action tonight in a non-conference contest at Wisconsin Rapids.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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