February 28, 2022 at 8:30 a.m.
Hodag Hoops rolls Tomahawk on senior night
RHS to face Antigo again in playoffs
Hodag Hoops rolls Tomahawk on senior night
The Hodags rolled in their final regular season home game Thursday night. Jacksen Smith led three Rhinelander seniors in double figures and Rhinelander dismantled Tomahawk 71-28 at the Jim Miazga Community Gymnasium.
"It gives us great energy," Hodag coach Derek Lemmens said. "It gives us an opportunity to move forward in a positive way and be ready to greet the postseason on our home court with, hopefully, a big W."
It was Rhinelander's second straight win after eight straight losses. The Hodags beat Antigo 55-42 Feb. 18 to start the winning streak and will have another crack at the Red Robins tonight at home as the WIAA tournament commences.
Thursday's game was never in doubt. The Hodags scored the game's first 24 points and were up 36-2 with seven minutes remaining in the opening half. Rhinelander extended its bench, backed off the pressure and cruised to a 51-10 halftime lead.
"They came out, they had great energy, they executed right from the start and it was nice just to be able to get that lead and be able to enjoy the moment and allow these seniors and the other players to get great minutes," Lemmens said. "It's the last regular season time that they're on this court, so to end like that is a nice way."
Two players not usually in the starting five took Thursday night's opportunity and ran with it. Ty Welk scored 10 points off the bench and seldom-used reserve Jaden Beske also scored 10 for a career high. Beske added a game-high six rebounds.
"Ty gives us some really good minutes. Jaden, as you can see, he's scrappy. He's all over the place. He can create havoc but, that being said, sometimes it's hard to contain Taz," Lemmens said, referencing the energetic Looney Tunes character of the same name. "I thought tonight he did a great job. He created some opportunities through his defense and really just put on a show."
Eleven different players scored for Rhinelander as the Hodags shot 61.7% from the field (29 of 47). While the seniors got plenty of minutes, there were also enough minutes to go around for several of Rhinelander's underclassmen.
"We've got some nice players coming up and I think it was good for them to have some varsity minutes and be on the court," Lemmens said. "The more they can have these moments, the more prepared they'll be if their number gets called down the road ... You never know when an opportunity to step on the court is going to happen. The more opportunities you can get to prepare for that, the better."
Rhinelander held Tomahawk to 22.2% (12 of 54) shooting in the game. Jaxson Werner paced the Hatchets with nine points.
The win, coupled with Lakeland's loss at Mosinee, gave Rhinelander (10-13, 6-6 Great Northern), fourth place outright in the final GNC standings. That was not good enough to give Rhinelander a top-five seed and a first-round bye last weekend when the WIAA produced its computerized seeds for the playoffs, yet Rhinelander found a potentially favorable half of the draw with its sixth seed.
The Hodags open against Antigo (3-18), which it defeated twice during the regular season. Rhinelander won 59-49 in Antigo Jan. 11 and downed the Robins by 13 last month at home. Antigo made late runs in both of those games to make the final scores closer than what the gameplay indicated.
Should the Hodags win tonight, a trip to third-seeded Shawano awaits on Friday night. Rhinelander defeated the Hawks 58-52 in a non-conference game Dec. 12. If Rhinelander springs an upset there, it will likely get a third crack at GNC champion Mosinee. The Hodags lost a pair of close, defensive struggles against the Indians in the regular season.
"We're excited about it," Lemmens said. "We know that in the playoffs anything can happen, but knowing that we beat Antigo twice, we beat Shawano on the road already this season, it doesn't mean we're going to win, but it means we know we can win. It means that if we go out, practice hard and execute our gameplay, we can be there with any of those teams that are in our way. That's exciting. We have something to practice and play for."
Rhinelander had three players in double figures - Jackson Zettler (15), Will Gretzinger (15) and Ryan Jamison (14) - when it beat Antigo on the road in January. Smith scored a game-high 20 points and Jamison had 10 when the Hodags beat Antigo at home 10 days ago.
Forward Mason Gray, who did not play in the first meeting, led Antigo with 13 points on Feb. 18. Connor Kolz and Ayden Gabriel each scored 15 points in the first contest.
"We can't let them muddy up the game," Lemmens said. "We can't let it be a physical kind of battle. We've got to make them play fast. We've got to make it a full-court game. We've got to run them up and down. We've got to, hopefully, turn them over, get a lead and make them have to be in attack mode and play fast."
Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. at the Miazga Gym.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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