Hodag Hoops’ comeback bid falters in battle of Lemmens Bros.

The Rhinelander High School boys’ basketball team nearly climbed a 13-point mountain in the second half on Tuesday night at home against Wausau West only to run out of air tantalizingly close to the summit. 

Wausau West outscored Rhinelander 8-0 over the final two minutes and defeated the Hodags 68-59 in non-conference play at the Jim Miazga Community Gymnasium. The loss snapped a three-game winning streak for Rhinelander (5-2, 3-0 Great Northern) and dropped the Hodags to 0-2 against Wisconsin Valley Conference schools this year after losing at home to Wausau East earlier this month.

The Hodags found themselves down 43-30 after Wausau West (7-3, 1-1 Wis. Valley) opened the second half on a 9-3 run. Rhinelander kept chipping away, thanks in part to eight second-half 3-pointers, and got to within one — down 60-59 after Will Gretzinger was fouled on a 3-point attempt and made all three free throws with 3:02 remaining.

“I thought we did a lot of good things,” Hodag coach Derek Lemmens said. “We kept our heads up when they made their run in the second half and clawed back. I thought that’s the most patient our offense has been. No coincidence that’s probably our best shooting night as well. All those shots were rhythm shots. They were assisted shots and we shared the basketball well.”

    Rhinelander’s Devon Feck attempts a jump shot over Wausau West’s Marcus Macdonald during the second half on a non-conference boys’ basketball game against Wausau West at the Jim Miazga Community Gymnasium Tuesday, Dec. 19. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

Yet things came apart for the Hodags down the stretch. After getting a stop, the Hodags had a chance to take the lead in the final three minutes. But, following a timeout with 2:11 remaining, Gretzinger was trapped along the sideline and his pass to Truman Lamers was tipped and intercepted by Griffin Lange, leading to a layup the other way that put West up three with 1:51 left. Devon Feck was fouled in the lane, prior to shooting, on the Hodags’ next trip, but the sophomore missed the front end of a 1-and-1 with 1:23 to play. From there, the Hodags were forced to start fouling and West made its final four free throws of the game. The Warriors also got a layup from senior Brett Butalla on a full-court inbound play after a defensive breakdown by the Hodags.

“Free throws, we missed three one-and-ones. We missed some opportunities,” Lemmens said. “We had to earn everything tonight and we felt we gave them some freebies with turnovers, especially in the first half. We had too many guys crashing and not getting back. They had two breakouts that way. We shore those things up, and this is a different (game).”

Rhinelander committed nine turnovers in the first half and West was able to get out in transition on a number of occasions as they led from the 11-minute mark of the half and took a 34-27 lead to the break.

Butalla led all scorers with 27 points and seemed to have answers for Wausau West in all the key moments on Tuesday. After Rhinelander got within 45-35, he was found in the corner and made two of three free throws to push West’s lead back to 12. Rhinelander got within 50-46 on a Truman Lamers 3 with 11 minutes left, but Butalla answered with a three-point play on the other end following by another driving layup to get the lead back to nine.

“He’s a tough matchup for us. He’s fast. He’s physical,” Lemmens said of Butalla, who went 11 of 13 from the foul line on Tuesday. “That’s a hard matchup. We adjusted better. They got us on a couple of skip passes early on and got him going. That’s the problem, when you let a guy get going, and we let him get going from the free throw line, especially. Once you see the basketball going through the hoop, everything just becomes bigger and becomes easier. We’ve got to do a better job early on not letting those guys feel good.”

Lamers paced Rhinelander with 22 points, Gretzinger had 17 and Feck chipped in 14 as Rhinelander finished the night just under 48% (21 of 44) from the field and went 10 of 21 from beyond the arc.

“That’s a really good defensive team. We knew we’d have to make some shots, and we did,” Lemmens said. “I thought they were good shots. We know we have guys, Will and Devon, the distances they shoot from might seem like a bad shot to some, but that’s their range. We’re excited about it.”

Lange added 14 points for West, which earned wins over Rhinelander in back-to-back years for the first time since the 2009-10 and 2010-11 seasons.

    Wausau West head coach Nate Lemmens exchanges a hug with his brother, Rhinelander coach Derek Lemmens, following non-conference boys’ basketball game at the Jim Miazga Community Gymnasium Tuesday, Dec. 19. Nate Lemmens improved to 3-7 against his older brother in the Wausau West-Rhinelander rivalry. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

It marked just the third time that the Warriors, led by Derek Lemmens’ younger brother and fellow RHS alum Nate Lemmens, have defeated Rhinelander in the 10 seasons that the coaching siblings have battled against one another.

“It’s always a little bit of a bragging right but, at the end of the day, we’re two people that love basketball,” Derek Lemmens said. “We love to compete and to know that we get to share these opportunities together is really special. I always enjoy this. I always appreciate it and, his team looks really good right now.”

The Hodags traveled to Merrill on Thursday for a non-conference contest against the Bluejays that concluded after press time for today’s edition. Rhinelander will be back in action this coming Thursday at Ashland.

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].