February 16, 2022 at 3:32 p.m.
Hodag Hoops' rallies stall late in back-to-back losses
Hodag Hoops' rallies stall late in back-to-back losses
The Hodags dropped back-to-back games in similar fashion Monday and Tuesday night, falling 64-60 at home to Northland Pines on Monday before going on the road and losing to Marshfield 63-49 on Tuesday.
Those losses ran Rhinelander's losing streak to eight straight games, and came on the heels of a 64-60 loss to Lakeland at home the previous Friday. All the games followed a similar script - Rhinelander fell behind early to a hot-shooting team and saw a spirited comeback bid fall short in the final minutes.
Coach Derek Lemmens saw some differences however, especially with how Rhinelander competed against Northland Pines (14-5, 7-3 Great Northern) and Marshfield (16-4, 10-0 Wis. Valley) who are at or near the top of their respective conferences.
"It's good to see us play two good teams so well after the way we had kind of played at times during this rough stretch," he said following Tuesday's game. "This is one of those losses - and we've had a lot of losses this season - but this is one you leave saying we did some good things and we're playing hard. That's the important thing. We are playing hard and that's what we need to do. We need to control our effort every single game and I thought the last two games we've done that."
Northland Pines 64, Rhinelander 60
Down as many as 15 in the first half, the Hodags rallied to tie with just over a minute to play, but two key mistakes loomed large in a four-point home loss to the Eagles.
Jackson Zettler made a layup to tie the game at 58 with 1:05 remaining and the Eagles spent a timeout after advancing the ball in to the front court. Junior Kaleb Winter immediately fouled Northland Pines' Nolan Lurvey, who had a game-high 27 points, for the Hodags' seventh team foul. Lurvey made both ends of a 1-and-1 to put Pines up by two.
Then point guard Jacksen Smith had the ball stolen at half court by Ryan Muench, who was quickly fouled and made two more free throws to put Pines ahead 62-58 with 32.5 seconds left.
After Smith made two free throws, the Hodags were unable to foul and stop the clock until 8.0 seconds left. Griffin Stiemke hit two free throws from there to ice it.
"There's a lot we can learn from, more situational stuff in practice I'm sure will benefit us in practice, but I'm just happy that we gave ourselves a chance and we played hard," Lemmens said.
The Eagles came out blazing. They started the game on a 16-2 run and hit five of their first six 3-point attempts to take a 24-10 lead with 9:35 left in the half. Rhinelander finally settled in and closed the half on an 11-2 push to get to within 32-26 at the break.
Rhinelander got to within a possession a number of times in the second half, but never drew even until Zettler's finish with just over a minute to go.
Muench, Gabe Smith and Stiemke each added nine points for the Eagles, who shot 52.6% from the field (20 of 38) and were 8 of 14 from 3-point range.
"This Northland Pines teams can flat out play," Lemmens said. "They can shoot. They're going to be a high seed. To be able to go toe-to-toe with them while they're playing well, that's important for us to see. This is the first time in a while that we've played the way we can and we need to. The energy was there. The effort was there more consistently. The pride on defense was there and we gave ourselves a chance."
Jacksen Smith had 22 in a losing effort for Rhinelander while Will Gretzinger had 15 and Ryan Jamison had 11. The Hodags had one of their better shooting nights of late, going 52.3% (23 of 44) from the field and 8 of 20 from beyond the arc.
"It's amazing what that does across the board," Lemmens said. "It makes every part of your game better. You play a little harder on D, you're rebounding a little harder. Seeing the basketball go through the hoop is important in so many ways and tonight we were making the open shots that we haven't been. That was good to see."
Marshfield 63, Rhinelander 49
Apart from coming all the way back to tie, Tuesday night's contest at Marshfield followed almost the exact same script as Monday night's game. Marshfield rained 3s early to take a large first-half lead. The Hodags chipped away, but could not climb all the way back in a 14-point loss.
Trailing by as many as 17 in the first half, and by 14 with 11:40 to play, the Hodags got to within 52-46 on a Gretzinger make with 5:50 to go, but then stalled offensively.
Chase Hinson, who led all scorers with 22 points, hit a 3 off a Marcus Neve offensive rebound with 3 minutes to play to put the Tigers up nine, effectively stopping the Hodags' comeback bid.
Hinson was 5 of 6 from beyond the arc on Tuesday and the Tigers, as a team, were 10 of 21 from 3.
"They're a really good shooting team and, unfortunately, many of those were us not getting the right amount of pressure on closeouts, but there were some that were just tough shots," Lemmens said.
Starter Caleb Olcikas was a late scratch for the Hodags due to an undisclosed health issue and Lemmens said the his team had to adjust on the fly as the Tigers hit their first four 3-point attempts to start the game on a 12-4 run. Rhinelander got back to within 17-13 before the Tigers went on a 15-2 run and eventually took a 32-21 lead to halftime.
"To lose a starter and a key defensive piece like that, that was big and not a lot of time to react to it," Lemmens said. "Right out of the gate we didn't get stops and they hit just about everything. I thought, again the guys did a nice job of just staying calm, staying the course and clawed their way back in it and late in game, we're right there but just couldn't find enough to get over the hump."
Gretzinger scored 15 for the second straight night to lead Rhinelander, Jamison had 11, Smith had eight and Alexx Huff and Jackson Zettler each scored seven.
"We had a lot of guys stepping up and making plays. It's good to see that balance. I thought we got really good minutes from a lot of guys tonight," Lemmens said.
The Hodags shot 43.5% (20 of 46) on the night. Marshfield shot 47.7% (21 of 44) and had a 14-0 edge in bench scoring which, coincidentally, was the final margin.
Rhinelander will try once again to stop the bleeding tonight at home against Antigo. It will be the Hodags' final contest before the seeds and matchups for the WIAA tournament are announced on Sunday.
"This is going to be huge for seeding purposes. We need one more win, plain and simple. Friday we've got our sights set on that," Lemmens said.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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