March 7, 2022 at 8:34 a.m.
STILL DANCING
Sixth-seeded Hodags make Cinderella run to regional crown
STILL DANCING
Then, something clicked.
"Guys just started having fun," senior captain Jacksen Smith said. "We were hanging out a lot outside of basketball and we just came together to get it done."
Now, the Hodags are on their longest WIAA tournament run in eight years.
The sixth-seeded Hodags are still alive in the playoffs. Rhinelander upset Shawano in overtime, 61-56 Friday night on the road before knocking the glass slipper off another underdog Saturday night, beating seventh-seeded Merrill 72-64 in front of a raucous crowd at the Jim Miazga Community Gymnasium.
It's Rhinelander's first trip to sectionals since the 2013-14 season, when the team fell to future Marquette University product Henry Ellenson and the Rice Lake Warriors one win away from the state tournament.
"At first it felt like we were going to do it every year and we know now how hard it is to get here," Hodag head coach Derek Lemmens said. "We've had some really good teams fall short. It's great for this team to have something tangible to hold on to. They worked hard. They earned this. It's special and I hope it inspires a few others to continue to work hard in the offseason so that we can have these opportunities."
The Hodags will face Medford Thursday night in Antigo in the sectional semifinal round (see related story).
Senior urgency is a phenomenon Lemmens said he experienced first-hand as the point guard on the 2000-01 Hodag team that got hot and made a run to the WIAA state tournament. Who knows where this run will end up, but after dropping eight straight games to fall to 8-13 on the season, the Hodags have won five in a row and have a ton of momentum on their side.
"Guys showed some grit," Lemmens said. "We played with a lot of emotion -sometimes a little too much emotion - but it's great to see that level of passion and emotion. That's kind of what we were missing in some situations where we lost winnable games. Kudos to them to really pulling together and just playing good basketball at the right time."
Senior Ty Welk said fellow senior Ryan Jamison called the Hodags' shot while the team was mired in its slump.
"He said, 'You know what, forget conference, let's go bring a regional championship back to the Jim.' That's what we did," Welk said. "It feels great. It's a testament to what we've put in."
"We got on that skid and it wasn't fun losing," Jamison added. "We like winning. We put effort in. We held it down on the defensive end. Our shots will go down and that's what happens."
Hodags 72, Merrill 64
Though the Hodags broke 70 points for only the sixth-time this season on Saturday night, defense proved to be the key as they created separation from Merrill and held on for an eight-point win.
Bradyn Pieper found Michael McRae for an alley-oop dunk with two minutes left in the first half to put Merrill ahead 30-23. The Bluejays did not make a shot from the field the remainder of the first half, and had only one field goal through the first 14 1/2 minutes of the second as Rhinelander went on an extended 34-10 run to take a 15-point lead.
"We were really frustrated with the pace we were playing in the first half and I thought guys responded, came out, did it the right way and I thought that really played a great role - our offense slowing down - played a great role in our defensive success," Lemmens said.
It also helped that the Hodags continued to stay hot from beyond the arc. Rhinelander has shot a staggering 58% (29 of 50) from 3-point range during the playoff run. The Hodags were 5 for 5 from distance in the second half on Saturday night. Sophomore Will Gretzinger, who led all scorers with 18 points, put the Hodags ahead for good on a triple with 13:17 left in the second half. Jamison and Gretzinger later hit back-to-back 3s to push the lead to 53-41 with 5:29 remaining.
Jamison finished with 16 points in the contest, as did senior forward Jackson Zettler, who created opportunities for the Hodags both in the paint and from distance.
"A lot of those (3-pointers) came from that inside-out post touch," Lemmens said. "They had no answer for JZ. They had to send someone and they left guys wide open and guys knocked them down. It was great to see us make those wide-open rhythm shots."
Bailey Turrene had 17 points for Merrill, which upset second-seeded Mosinee 64-60 a night earlier. The Bluejays tried to make a furious run and nearly got back into the game on a sequence with 2:23 left. Turrene scored an offensive putback over Rhinelander's Alexx Huff, who fouled Turrene and then was assessed a technical foul as the two remained entangled after the play. Turrene hit two of his three free throws to cut Rhinelander's lead to 59-51, but Pieper turned the ball over on Merrill's next possession and the Hodags sealed it a short time later. Rhinelander beat the press for a fast break layup by Zettler, who then sprinted back and got a steal on the defensive end of the floor and was fouled. Zettler made one of two free throws from there to put the Hodags up 65-54 with 1:26 to play.
Saturday's game was bogged down by whistles much of the way as the officiating crew assessed 49 total fouls in the game and awarded 69 free throws. The Hodags were 24 of 37 from the line while Merrill was 17 of 32.
Rhinelander shot 48.7% from the field (19 of 39) while holding Merrill to 38% (19 of 50) from the floor. Troy Mootz added 16 for the Bluejays, Pieper had 12 and Tyson Glisch had 10.
"It's a hard team to guard," Lemmens said. "They do really good things. They have really good players. Overall, we made mistakes but we really kept (Turrene) in check. We really made him work and he got a little wore out. They tried to do that with Smith but I just felt like we had more guys that could create and make the plays."
Smith added 15 points for the Hodags.
Hodags 61, Shawano 56, OT
The Hodags nearly squandered their opportunity to move on Friday night, but did just enough on the road to pull the upset. Smith had 22 points and the Hodags overcame some woes at the foul line to defeat Shawano in overtime.
Rhinelander made only 4 of its final 12 free throw attempts at the end of regulation and the Hawks tied the game at 50 on a Jacob Landon runner with 9.1 seconds to play. Rhinelander missed two chances to win it in regulation before Gretzinger hit a 3 at the start of overtime and the Hodags led the rest of the way.
"We had a lot of opportunities that we let go and guys didn't put their heads down," Lemmens said. "They just kept being gritty, gave ourselves some opportunities and, in the end, found a way."
Michael Metcalf-Grassman had 29 points for Shawano in the contest, but fouled out with 13.6 second left in overtime with his team down 57-56 as he tried to drive in for the go-ahead layup. Zettler, who had just missed two free throws on the other end of the floor, sprinted back defensively, got in position and took what proved to be a game-deciding charge against Metcalf-Grassman.
From there Smith made two free throws for the Hodags, Landon missed a desperation 3 for Shawano and Max Ratty made two free throws off a foul on a rebound with 2.6 seconds left to ice it.
"That was really a heads-up play," Lemmens said of Zettler's efforts to draw the charge. "Not only did it stop them from getting that go-ahead bucket, but it fouled out their best player and took the air out of their sails."
Rhinelander went ahead 47-46 on a pair of free throws by Smith with 1:22 left in the second before Zettler converted both ends of a 1-and-1 to put Rhinelander up three. Jamison missed two free throws with 38.4 seconds left before Metcalf-Grassman was fouled, making both shots with 21.6 seconds left. Jamison then made 1 of 2 from the line before Landon's tying layup.
Smith missed an off-balance shot in the final seconds of regulation and Metcalf-Grassman called timeout while securing the rebound for the Hawks with 1.1 seconds left. Needing to go the length of the floor, Shawano never got the ball in as the inbound pass hit off the bottom of the Rhinelander backboard, awarding the ball to the Hodags on a dead ball. The Hodags got the ball into Zettler down low, but he was unable to make a shot through heavy contact, sending the game to overtime.
Zettler had 11 points for the Hodags, who led 24-21 at halftime and were 18 of 46 (39.1%) from the floor. Landon had 11 for the Hawks, who were an even 40% (22 of 55) from the field, but shot only 2 of 17 from beyond the arc.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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