February 1, 2023 at 1:41 p.m.
Hodag Hoops' second-half woes continue
Hodag Hoops' second-half woes continue
It happened again Monday night in Medford as the GNC-leading Raiders ballooned a 10-point halftime lead to 33 and cruised to a 73-40 victory over the Hodags at Raider Hall.
Rhinelander (5-11, 3-4 Great Northern) shot just 33% on the night, and missed its first 10 field goal attempts of the second half. The Raiders went on a 24-1 run to begin the half before Rhinelander's Kyle Brown finally knocked down a 3 with 7:27 to go.
"Offensively, we were in total disarray the entire game," Hodag boys' basketball coach Derek Lemmens said. "It just snowballed. It starts with them hitting a couple of shots, us not being able to score, them hitting a couple (more) shots, us (still) not being able to score. Once it got to 20, you could just see a lot of guys just giving up. We kind of gave up, rolled over and they just kept going. That really is what happened.
"Once things went sour, we kind of rolled over and folded. It was disheartening to see because we were hoping we were beyond that, where we just kept fighting, kept being gritty."
Rhinelander never led in the contest, giving up an opening 10-2 run, but got back within a point down 13-12 on a Brown make in the lane with 11:14 left in the half. Medford went 17-6 from there to push the lead to 12. Rhinelander chipped away with a Kaleb Winter jumper cutting the advantage to seven late in the half but the Raiders' Charlie Kleist hit an open left corner 3 just before the buzzer to give the Raiders a 37-27 lead at the break.
"That really took the wind out of our sails and it just shouldn't have happened," Lemmens said.
Medford (14-3, 8-0 Great Northern) scored the first 18 points of the second half and had four players in double digits, led by Tanner Hraby with 15. Logan Baumgartner had 14, Kleist had 12 and Charlie Gierl had 11 - including nine in a row as part of Medford's salvo to open the second.
The Raiders forced 17 Rhinelander turnovers and outscored the Hodags 23-0 in transition. Medford also held a 38-16 edge on points in the paint.
"They got a ton of points in transition off of turnovers and just us not getting back," Lemmens said. "On a missed shot, they were gone and we were not. It was a lot of things you saw in December."
Will Gretzinger had 13 points to lead the Hodags. Winter was next on the team with six as Rhinelander once again played without sophomore sixth man Truman Lamers (knee).
"I felt like we didn't do a great job of anything," Lemmens said of his offense. "Guys just didn't want the ball. We didn't work hard to get open. We didn't flash open. Kaleb Winter moved really well and found some great opportunities. If everyone was moving as purposefully as him, we could have gotten some really good looks."
The loss was Rhinelander's fifth in a row following a four-game winning streak as the Hodags fight through a difficult part of their schedule. The Hodags were at Mosinee Thursday night in a game that concluded after press time for today's edition. Rhinelander and Medford will meet again this Tuesday at the Miazga Gym.
"The second time around hopefully we'll be a little more aggressive, a little less hesitant," Lemmens said. "We'll watch some film. We'll fix some things and just try to be a little better offensively against them this next time around."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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