January 5, 2022 at 1:24 p.m.
Streak busters
Hodags rally late, knock off reigning GNC champs Medford 55-49
Streak busters
On Tuesday the tables turned back in Rhinelander's favor, at least for one night.
Rhinelander rallied from down 11 with nine minutes to play to stun the Raiders 55-49 at the Jim Miazga Community Gymnasium.
The Hodags were hot in the second half, shooting 60% over the final 18 minutes. The Raiders were ice cold, shooting only 21%, as they saw a 29-game GNC winning streak come to an end.
Medford had won six straight, and seven of the last eight, against Rhinelander.
"They really have had our number," Rhinelander coach Derek Lemmens said. "Their style of play, they play so hard. They just go after you and it's really made our teams uncomfortable in the past. It made us uncomfortable today, but we were able to finally match them defensively. Even though it was ugly, we were able to come out on top."
Rhinelander used a 17-2 run over a six-minute stretch to take a 46-42 lead and then held on over the final three minutes to get the win.
The victory came at an unexpected time as the Hodags (4-4, 1-1 Great Northern) struggled mightily in a pair of blowout losses in the Freedom Holiday tournament. Meanwhile, Medford (6-2, 2-1 Great Northern) was humming along offensively, averaging 70.7 points per game entering the contest.
Lemmens said defense, hit and miss at times for the Hodags this season, was the main reason Rhinelander got the job done.
"It was not a good offensive night for us but, defensively, these guys took a major step forward and just took pride in it," he said.
In particular Rhinelander frustrated Medford's Logan Baumgartner. The junior came in averaging 21.9 points per game with a team-high 29 made 3-pointers. Rhinelander held Baumgartner to 10 points on just 2 of 18 shooting - including 2 of 15 from beyond the arc.
"He is an outstanding player. So to see him struggle that way really just says how great of an effort that was from Caleb Olcikas," Lemmens said. "This is a kid (Baumgartner) that's going to play basketball at the next level and has had an outstanding year, including multiple games where he's hitting five, six 3s. Guys just made him work. Teammates did a nice job of helping through screens and I was just really proud of the effort and then us matching them on the glass and just not giving them extra opportunities."
Jacksen Smith, who scored a game-high 19 points, gave Rhinelander its first lead of the contest, making a driving layup off the right baseline with 3:12 remaining. Following a defensive stop, sophomore Will Gretzinger swirled in a 3 to put Rhinelander up 46-42.
Tanner Hraby answered with a 3 for Medford, only to see Gretzinger match it with another triple with 1:15 remaining. From there, Smith made five of his final six free throws to keep the Raiders at arm's length.
"We just kind of picked it up defensively and really took a lot of pride (in our play) and that's really what led to the outcome," Smith said.
Rhinelander also got a lift from senior forward Jackson Zettler, whose hit-and-miss play this year has been a microcosm of the team's inconsistency as a whole. Zettler finished with 14 points and seven rebounds in the game. He's averaging 14.5 points and 5.8 rebounds per game in the Hodags' four wins, and only 4.0 points and 2.3 rebounds in Rhinelander's four losses.
"That was a nice 14 and 7 but we still getting after him and the guys because we thought he should have gotten more touches," Lemmens said. "He's a force inside when he's confident and he's physical. I'm really excited for what he brings and I hope he just continues to get more and more confident."
The Hodags struggled against Medford's pressure in the first half, turning the ball over on each of their first four possessions as the Raiders raced out to a 7-0 lead. After Rhinelander got back within two at 15-13, Medford answered with a 14-6 run over the final 6:30 to take a 29-19 lead at the break.
Rhinelander scored eight of the first 10 points to start the second before Medford answered with a 9-2 push to go up 40-29 at the nine-minute mark of the half.
Ryan Jamison sparked the Hodags with a 3 on the next trip down the floor. Smith knocked down a 3 to get Rhinelander with in three at 42-39 with 5:20 left before Jamison made a driving layup to get the Hodags within a point.
Medford went 6 minutes, 41 seconds without a field goal in the second half as the Hodags stormed back to take the lead.
"We made big shots and countered it with big stops," Lemmens said. "The theme of tonight was defense. It was front and center. We had a lot of turnovers (22). We had poor shooting in the first half, much better in the second half. At the end of the day, it came down to getting stops and not letting Medford pull away. Guys just played gritty and that grit has been inconsistent this year. So, hopefully they see that that's got to be the foundation of everything moving forward."
Joey Sullivan had 16 points to lead Medford while Hraby added 11 points.
Now the challenge for Rhinelander is to string together strong performances. The Hodags have yet to win back-to-back games this season, and will try to end that streak tonight on the road at Lakeland.
"That's what we have not been able to do, string those performances," Lemmens said. "We're going on the road. We're going to be playing against a physical team. We've got to take care of the basketball. We've got to have this kind of defensive intensity and mindset. We've got to treat (Lakeland's) Will Fortier the same way we treated a guy like Baumgartner and come out and got after him the same way."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
WEATHER SPONSORED BY
E-Editions
Latest News
E-Editions
Events
August
To Submit an Event Sign in first
Today's Events
No calendar events have been scheduled for today.
Comments:
You must login to comment.