January 7, 2021 at 8:47 a.m.
Hodag hoops downs Lakeland 55-47
Hodag hoops downs Lakeland 55-47
Rhinelander trailed for only 20 seconds, early in the first half, but Lakeland was able to stay within shouting distance thanks to the efforts of Will and Alex Fortier - the sons of former Rhinelander and current Lakeland head coach Rich Fortier. The two combined for 33 points as the Thunderbirds hung around until the end.
"It wasn't pretty, but the guys did a nice job of making plays down the stretch and finding a way to get the W," said Hodag coach Derek Lemmens, who improved to 15-2 against Rich Fortier.
Up nine with the ball and under a minute remaining, the Hodags committed a turnover, which led to an Alex Fortier transition layup. After a Jacksen Smith free throw, Brayden Wiczek hit a shot inside to cut Rhinelander's lead to 53-47 with 35.4 seconds remaining.
Pressing off the inbound, Lakeland was unable to get a turnover, or a foul. Quinn Lamers beat the press and took it in for a layup with 22 seconds left to finally put the nail in the T-Birds' coffin.
Rhinelander (5-3, 3-1 Great Northern) led 23-17 at the break, despite shooting only 2 of 11 from beyond the arc. The 3s finally began to fall for Rhinelander in the second half, starting with a Skeen make from the outside to give Rhinelander a 33-24 lead with 15:10 to play. Four of Rhinelander's next five baskets were triples as Rhinelander stretched the lead to 47-35 with 4:39 to play. Rhinelander was 5 of 7 from 3-point range in the second half.
"We're going to make shots, eventually," Lemmens said. "I didn't think we were going to go 2 for 11 in the second half. I was hoping the law of averages was going to play out. I thought, again, guys' shot selection was really good. It just comes down to making the shots."
Lakeland (1-6, 0-2 Great Northern) got back to within 6 at 49-43 thanks to a couple of 3s by Alex Fortier and a finish inside by Will Fortier. Will, the younger of the two brothers, finished with 20 points while Alex had 13. They combined to hit all seven of Lakeland's 3-point shots.
"They're both physical players and we really struggled to deny them those deep touches," Lemmens said. "We were never able to get that stop after a big bucket. We'd hit a big 3, it always seemed like we'd give a big 3 right back. When you can get that bucket-stop-bucket, that's when those runs really start and that's when you can feel that momentum shift in your direction but, every time it seemed like we were close to getting that momentum, they made a play to get it back."
Skeen led three Hodags in double digits with 16, Lamers added 12 and Travis Towne chipped in 11 points and nine rebounds on the evening as Rhinelander shot 47.6% (20 of 42) from the field.
Brayden Wiczek was the third Lakeland player in double digits with 10 points. Lakeland was almost equal to Rhinelander from the field at 45.2% (19 of 42). The Hodags had an 8-2 edge in makes from the foul line and forced 21 T-Bird turnovers in the contest.
Despite having two forwards out of the lineup - Kirk Mathews and Jackson Zettler - the Hodags managed to virtually play even with Lakeland on the glass, getting out rebounded 27-26. Lemmens said the lack of forward depth will prove more challenging this weekend as the team travels to Antigo tonight before returning home for a non-conference game against Kaukauna tomorrow evening.
"It's two teams that are physical, are looking to pound the ball inside and we're down bigs," he said. "That's something we're going to have to work on here for the next conference game. We've got to make sure we're defending that post a little better, talking about some ways we can trap it and get the ball out of there and just be a little more effective, defensively."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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