January 12, 2022 at 2:28 p.m.
Hodag hoops survives late letdown, fends off Antigo 59-49
Hodag hoops survives late letdown, fends off Antigo 59-49
Rhinelander squandered the majority of a 20-point lead over the final 7:20 of regulation, but held on for a 59-49 victory over Antigo at Sheldon Fieldhouse.
A myriad of Hodag turnovers and mistakes down the stretch, plus some timely Antigo shooting, saw the Red Robins close the gap all the way down to six points in the final minute before free throws by Will Gretzinger and Ryan Jamison finally put the game on ice.
"Lots of things we can learn from and move forward a little better from," Lemmens said after the game.
Connor Kolz, Antigo's leading scorer at 13 points per game, finally came alive down the stretch. Held to only two points most of the way, he had seven in an 11-2 run that cut Rhinelander's lead to 48-39 with 4:05 remaining. The Hodags were able to get the lead back to 13 in the final minute, but then Ayden Gabriel rattled home a 3 with 40 seconds left. Then, after Gretzinger missed the front end of a 1-and-1, Kolz was fouled on a made 3-point attempt and hit the subsequent free throw for a four-point play that brought Antigo within 55-49 with 26.0 seconds to play.
Lemmens said some of the same inconsistency issues that have plagued his team through the first 10 games of the season were apparent down the stretch on Tuesday.
"We just lost focus and we let factors out of our control affect us, a couple calls. In general, I just didn't think we had great focus or energy tonight," he said. "I think we knew that we were the better team and I think we thought it was just going to take care of itself, we really wouldn't have to play. It had that feeling. It was a nice, rude awakening and, hopefully, something that springboards us into a more focused team moving forward."
Rhinelander never trailed in the game, but it never felt easy. Despite employing half- and three-quarter-court pressure, the Hodags were unable to speed up the Robins in what turned into a low-possession affair. Both teams had fewer than 40 field goal attempts in the contest. What's more, though Rhinelander shot 62% (21 of 34) on the night, the team committed 21 turnovers - including 12 in the second half.
"What's frustrating about it is it continues to be the same things. We're just not improving the same things," Lemmens said. "It's zero-to-two-pass turnovers. We are trying to attack a set defense without moving them. It's getting to the point where you almost want to say you can't shoot anything outside of a layup without 10 passes. It's frustrating because I think guys are just trying to score too early. You want to have a mindset of attack, but you have to understand the defense has to move."
Will Gretzinger provided a spark off the bench for the Hodags in the first half. The sophomore had 13 points and was 4 for 4 from 3-point range in an 18-6 run that put Rhinelander up 27-13 with just over a minute to play in the first. Alexx Huff added a 3 just before the buzzer as the Hodags led 30-15 at halftime.
"Will Gretzinger's looked really good over the last few games," Lemmens said. "He's definitely starting to put himself in a position to earn more and more minutes. He hit some big shots early and got our offense going."
Rhinelander fed Jackson Zettler inside in the second half as 13 of his team-high 15 points came over the final 18 minutes. Zettler helped slow Antigo's late advances with a layup with 3:20 remaining and then converted a three-point play with just over a minute remaining. Ryan Jamison added 14 points for the Hodags.
Kolz and Gabriel each had 15 points to lead the Robins, who shot 44% (17 of 39) in the game.
"We gave them really good looks early and they just missed them," Lemmens said. "Our defense was really poor. We have a couple of guys where this is a continuing trend and I don't know if we need to shake things up or what, but our D was lukewarm today."
Rhinelander (6-5, 3-1 Great Northern) has won three of its last four and will travel to Tomahawk tonight to conclude a four-game road trip.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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