January 18, 2021 at 8:21 a.m.
Skeen hits big 3s as Hodags rally past Shawano in OT 54-51
Skeen hits big 3s as Hodags rally past Shawano in OT 54-51
Skeen hit the game-tying 3 at the buzzer as the Hodags erased a 19-point second half deficit. He then made the go-ahead three midway through overtime as Rhinelander rallied past Shawano 54-51 Saturday night at the Jim Miazga Community Gymnasium.
Skeen finished with a double-double on the night with 25 points and 10 rebounds. After hitting only two 3s in his first eight attempts, Skeen was red hot down the stretch. The senior made six of his final seven shots from the floor and scored 17 points over the final 4:16 of regulation, plus the overtime session, as the Hodags escaped with a thrilling come-from-behind win.
"The guys on the bench just kept us going," Skeen said afterward. "Our energy was up. Ty Welk, Alexx Huff, the guys that aren't really getting in all the time, great job on the bench. They kept the energy up, kept motivating us, telling us to play better. It was just great energy."
Skeen came up big with Rhinelander needed it most. Down one, the Hodags turned the ball over with 12 seconds remaining and Elliott Lowney made two free throws on the other end to give Shawano a 49-46 lead with 6.9 seconds left in regulation. On the inbounds, Quinn Lamers drove the length of the floor, all the way to the rim, before kicking it out to Skeen in the left corner. Skeen's open look tickled the net just as the horn sounded.
"Quinn's like, 'Get to a corner,' so I kind of faked in, went back out and I had an open shot," Skeen said.
Down 51-49 in overtime, Skeen came up big again from the right wing with the go-ahead 3 with 1:48 remaining.
"He doesn't even have a green light. There's no traffic sign whatsoever for him," Rhinelander coach Derek Lemmens said. "We know how good of a shooter he is. He always has the option to take a shot and I felt like in the first half, especially, his shots were not fluid. He caught it, realized he was open and then shot, instead of catching, already knowing you're open and being in rhythm."
Skeen wasn't the only Hodag out of rhythm early. Rhinelander went nearly 11 minutes without a field goal between the first and second halves as Shawano flipped a 14-13 deficit into a 37-18 lead with 11:32 remaining. Skeen broke the drought with a 3 and later, ignited the late Hodags' rally. Rhinelander trailed 47-31 following a Rory Johnson layup with 4:23 remaining, but Skeen was fouled on a made layup on the other end, and made the subsequent free throw to kick-start what was an 18-2 run for the Hodags down the stretch. Skeen then hit a 3 to cut the lead to 10 and Jacksen Smith made a running layup in transition after Elliott Lowney missed a layup on the other end for the Hawks.
Another 3 and a fast break layup by Skeen cut Shawano's lead to 47-44 with 2:00 to play.
"They just started playing really hard," Lemmens said. "You get a team to kind of make a couple mistakes down the stretch and 15 points is a lot of points, but once it gets to nine points, it doesn't feel like that any more. We got a couple turnovers and made a couple of shots and you could tell they were really starting to play not to lose. We just continued to pressure. I thought guys pressured intelligently and we finally made those big shots that we were missing earlier. When you put those two together, that's what's going to happen."
The Hawks did not make a single field goal after the Hodags began their decisive run. Though the Hodags missed a couple of front ends of 1-and-1s in the final minute of overtime, the Hawks could not convert on the other end. Brandon Reed missed a go-ahead 3 in the corner late for Shawano, Skeen collected the rebound and handed the ball to Lamers who was fouled with 2.2 seconds remaining. Lamers hit both free throws and then forced a traveling violation to ice the game with 0.5 seconds to play.
In victory, Rhinelander turned the tables on Shawano, which rallied from down 15 at half to defeat the Hodags 60-59 in last year's season opener.
"It's nice for these guys to experience that and see that," Lemmens said. "It's a great lesson that it's not over. You just have to keep playing. There's a lot of time on that clock. You just keep playing and that's what the guys did. The bench had great energy."
Smith, back at full strength after being hampered for the better part of a month with a quad injury, had 12 points for Rhinelander, which shot just under 41% (18 for 44) from the field. Lowney had 15 points and Ethan Schwitzer added 14 for the Hawks, who shot just over 40% from the field (19 of 47).
The game was Rhinelander's first since a 55-47 home win over Lakeland Jan. 5. The next day, the team learned it had to quarantine due to a positive COVID-19 case. The team did virtual workouts and film sessions the remainder of that week, was able to return to the gym for individual, socially distant workouts starting last Monday and held its first full team practice since the pause on Friday.
"To be able to do our own workouts from home, it really makes guys stay disciplined and play their roles in a game," Skeen said. "When we came back, we started getting into skill work just to better our own games. Yesterday at practice, we had great energy. Just all around, really good stuff."
The Hodags (6-3, 3-1 Great Northern) are back in action Thursday to make up one of the games that was lost during its COVID pause as it travels to Antigo to face the Red Robins. Rhinelander is back home Friday night for a regularly-scheduled GNC contest against Northland Pines.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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