January 27, 2021 at 1:27 p.m.
RHS spreads wealth as its races past Tomahawk
RHS spreads wealth as its races past Tomahawk
Ross Skeen and Quinn Lamers both hit four 3-pointers as the Hodags connected on 13 triples overall and raced away to a 79-42 victory over the Hatchets at the Jim Miazga Community Gymnasium.
That result seemed far from obvious as Tomahawk took a brief 23-21 lead on an Elijah Scheffler 3 with 3:01 remaining in the first half, but Lamers answered with a 3 on the other end as the Hodags scored the final 12 points before the break. Rhinelander then opened the second half on a 27-8 run to blow the game wide open.
"I think we went a little too much for the 3-ball and there were a lot of empty possessions where we weren't making shots. They just kind of hung around with us," Rhinelander coach Derek Lemmens said. "Once we got up and down and got the tempo going we were able to pull away."
As the Hodags opened up the lead in the second half, the bench began to shine. All 12 players who suited up for Rhinelander scored as the Hodags had a 31-2 edge in bench points over the Hatchets.
"I thought we shared the ball well," said Lemmens, whose team recorded a season-high 22 assists. "What I like is when we had guys coming off the bench, scoring, just the excitement for each other. I like that. If we want to be the team we want to be, we have to be excited for other people's success."
Highlights off the bench included the first points of the season for junior Ty Welk, who scored eight on 3 of 3 shooting. Forward Jackson Zettler added six on a trio of breakaway layups within a minute in the second half that pushed Rhinelander's lead to 59-31 with 10:12 to play.
"Jackson Zettler just ran the court and just outran Tomahawk, and Jacksen Smith made some beautiful passes," Lemmens said. "Is he lightning quick? No, but does a big have to be? No. A big just has to be determined to run the rim. That's what we've been telling guys. You've just got to make the choice to run the rim. If you do it, it's going to be there ... It's not about speed, it's about the will to do it every single possession. When you do, you're going to catch someone jogging."
Rhinelander shot 57.7% from the field overall (30 of 52) and were 13 of 27 from deep. Skeen led all scorers with 17 points, Lamers had 14 while Smith chipped in 10 assists.
Drew Bolder paced the Hatchets with 14 points while Mason Phalin and Payton Bunce each had nine.
The win moved Rhinelander (9-3, 6-1 Great Northern) to within a game and a half of Medford (16-2, 8-0), and one back in the loss column, as the race for the GNC title hits the home stretch. The Hodags will face Medford next Friday at home, but will first need to get past a must-win contest on the road at Mosinee (12-6, 7-2) tonight. Rhinelander defeated Mosinee 71-57 when the teams first meet back on Dec. 11.
"They're going to be a hungry team. We got them last time on our court and I didn't think we played amazing on our court," Lemmens said. "We were able to beat them pretty soundly without playing great basketball. It's a team where they're going to come at us. They're going to try to establish tempo and we'll just have to play our game and continue to do kind of what we did the first time, where we're getting live-ball turnovers and not giving up live-ball turnovers, and making them earn every point."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
Comments:
You must login to comment.