January 10, 2022 at 10:19 a.m.
Inconsistency continues for Hodag hoops
Rhinelander beats Lakeland, falls at Marathon
Inconsistency continues for Hodag hoops
The Hodags pulled away in the second half to down Lakeland 50-36 Friday in Minocqua. It was the team's second straight win and second strong defensive effort, but that didn't carry over the following night as Marathon shot 65% from the field and routed the Hodags 75-50.
It's been that kind of a season for the Hodags, who still find themselves at .500, 5-5 overall. The team will look good one game but not the next as it struggles to find consistency.
"We need to execute really well in the game and we need to start doing the little things," Hodag coach Derek Lemmens said following Saturday's loss at Marathon. "If we want to win a conference championship, we need to be showing up every single night. Right now, these non-conference games, we're not showing up. That's disheartening and it's frustrating because we're better than what we're putting out on the floor."
Rhinelander 50, Lakeland 36
Jacksen Smith had 23 points Friday night, including a 3 just before the first-half buzzer that proved to be the final lead change in a GNC matchup against the T-Birds in Minocqua.
Smith's step-back 3 gave the Hodags a 21-19 lead at the break, and some much needed momentum after struggling for much of the half.
"To go into halftime ahead, knowing how we played, we just huge," Lemmens said. "It gives you that little spark and just knowing that we just put together, offensively, a very poor half and we've got a one-point lead. As a team, it reassured us and we could go with some confidence."
Rhinelander opened the second half on a 13-2 run to push the lead to 15. After Lakeland scored 10 straight to cut the lead to five, Rhinelander answered with a 14-5 run - including the game's final nine points.
Lemmens said a change in the defense in the second half worked to the Hodags' favor to speed up the action.
"In the first half, especially, they were saying, let's make this a possession game," he said. "We played a little 1-3-1 in the second half and Jaden Beske, we put him at the top, and he just got after it and made them uncomfortable. That's when our first run happened. We played a little more 1-3-1 again to make kind of a second run. Us pressuring a little bit and playing that 1-3-1 helped and really picked up tempo I felt. Guys did a good job with that. Once we got the lead, then they kind of had to create that sense of urgency. They can't just take the ball. They've got to score, and that helped."
Smith's 23 points led all scorers as he was the only Rhinelander player in double digits. He scored his final five points in a row to push Rhinelander's advantage to 46-36 with 2:09 remaining.
"We had big buckets at different times, but Jacksen really was the catalyst and made big plays down the stretch," Lemmens said. "Each guy had a big moment, but Jacksen was the consistent force."
Will Fortier, son of current Lakeland and former Rhinelander head coach Rich Fortier, led the Thunderbirds with 17 points and 13 rebounds but didn't not score after a Lakeland bucket that cut the lead to 36-31 with just more than eight minutes to play. Lakeland shot just 29% from the field and was 3 of 21 from 3-point range on Friday night.
"You can weather storms when you're playing defense," Lemmens said Friday night. "When you're not playing defense, and we're not shooting the ball well, these are the game we've been losing 70-50 instead of winning 50-36."
Marathon 75, Rhinelander 50
Lemmens' words proved uncannily prophetic Saturday night as Marathon got hot early and never trailed in a 25-point victory over Rhinelander.
Jaden Koeller hit all four of his first-half 3-point attempts. He and 6-8 teammate Grant Warren each had 20 points to lead all scorers as Marathon finished 28 of 43 from the field, including 6 of 8 from distance.
"They were all just rhythm shots and we've got to come out of the gates with a little more energy, a little more pride on D," Lemmens said. "Our defense was solid the last two games, but the energy level was totally different tonight than it has been. That's where it comes from, effort and execution of the details."
Marathon opened the game on a 15-4 run and then used an 11-0 push to give itself some breathing room after Rhinelander cut the lead to 25-22 with 7:38 remaining in the first half.
The Raiders led 41-28 at halftime. Rhinelander got the deficit down to nine at 54-45 with 9:42 remaining, but Marathon went on a 15-2 run from there to put the game out of reach.
"Every time we made a run and things were going good, we tried to double down and then we started forcing some things offensively and putting ourselves in just bad spots," Lemmens said. "What we've done well the last few games is we haven't allowed big runs on one end or the other - big runs or big droughts. Tonight that's all it was. It was big runs and big droughts. It was full of these ups and downs and we just didn't do a great job of saying, 'We need to get a shot this possession.' We'd have strings of four to five turnovers and they'd have strings where they'd score four or five times in a row."
Smith led Rhinelander with 13 points while Alexx Huff and Ryan Jamison each had 10. The Hodags shot 52% from the field in the first half, but committed 13 turnovers. While Rhinelander cut down on the turnovers in the second, the team was only 35% (9 of 26) from the field over the final 18 minutes.
Rhinelander is back in action tonight on the road against Antigo. Tipoff is at 6 p.m., the first game of a boys-girls doubleheader between the schools.
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.