RHS goes wire-to-wire over Three Lakes

Over the last few games, Rhinelander High School boys’ basketball coach Derek Lemmens said he has felt his team has almost been a victim of its own success. 

That was the case again on Tuesday night as the Hodags used a big run early to take control, but needed until midway through the second half to finally put away Three Lakes 64-51 in a battle of teams at the top of their respective conferences.

Thanks to a barrage of early 3s, the Hodags led 25-8 just 10 minutes into the contest. That lead dwindled to nine early in the second half before the Hodags responded with a 20-6 run to put the game out of reach. 

“I feel like when things start going good, it’s almost a bad thing sometimes for us,” Lemmens said afterward. “We just stop executing fundamentals and details. You see it in our defense. You see it where we start getting too dribble-happy offensively, or taking difficult shots. We relax to where we lose and edge. We never want to be nervous or tight, but you always have to have that focused edge and I feel like we lose that when we start doing really well.”

Will Gretzinger scored a game-high 28 points to lead Rhinelander (10-6, 6-1 Great Northern), which surpassed its win total from the 2022-23 season on Tuesday. Ultimately, the Hodags took advantage of a momentary lapse on Three Lakes’ part to finally put the game away in the second. 

The Bluejays (12-5, 5-1 Northern Lakes) were in the midst of an 8-0 run as Tyler Janikowski made a basket and was fouled with 11:09 remaining to cut Rhinelander’s lead to 44-35. Janikowski missed the free throw and Three Lakes’ Peyton Pitlik was called for a foul going through the back of Rhinelander’s Truman Lamers on the rebound. Pitlik slammed the basketball in frustration after the whistle, resulting in a technical foul. 

Gretzinger buried the two technical free throws, Evan Shoeder made a hook shot on the ensuing possession and the Hodags went on a 9-0 run to take a 53-35 lead with 9:08 to play. 

“We used that as a teaching point,” Lemmens said. “Everything was going right for them. We were kind of against the ropes and one player losing his cool takes what his team was working hard to do and just undoes it.” 

Gretzinger made four straight shots from distance and Rhinelander made six shots from beyond the arc in its opening salvo as it went up 25-8 with 8 minutes to play in the first. The lead stabilized from there as the Hodags took a 36-22 advantage to the break. 

    Rhinelander’s James Heck puts up a shot over Three Lakes’ LJ Terlizzi and Peyton Pitlik (34) during the second half of a non-conference boys’ basketball game at the Jim Miazga Community Gymnasium Tuesday, Jan. 30. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

“It was good to see him knocking down some shots,” Lemmens said of Gretzinger, who finished with a season-high. “He’s always going to be aggressive, but he’s been in a little bit of a slump. It was good to see the ball go through the hole for him. I thought he also did a nice job of moving the basketball. 

“In the first half our offense was really patient and our bigs were really involved, whether it was Evan or James (Heck). Guys got good looks, got some deep touches and it was good to see more of an inside-out (game) for us.”

The Hodags held the Bluejays to under 35% from the field on 19 of 55 shooting, and only 1 of 12 from beyond the arc. Most of Three Lakes’ damage came inside as Janikowski nearly had a double-double with 20 points and nine rebounds, while Jared Kaufman did have a double-double with 13 points and 11 boards. 

“I thought we defended the perimeter well, but finishing plays and the post touches were all positioning,” Lemmens said. “We’re not jumping gaps, so they cut in front of our face and they get the deep touches. We’ve got to do a better job before these guys get the basketball and that’s going to be important defensively.”

Seth Nofftz finished with 12 points for Rhinelander on an efficient 5 of 6 shooting. More known as a 3-point shooter, Nofftz got to the rim on a number of occasions late in the first half.

“He’s one of our best finishers when he gets to the rim,” Lemmens said. “He’s shooting around 80% in that area where a lot of other guys, we’re barely at 50%. That’s just one thing, we’re not finishing well, and Seth’s one of those guys that’s doing a good job finishing. He got to the rack and then he hit that open 3.”

Heck added nine points for the Hodags, who shot 44.4% (24 of 54) on the night and were 8 of 21 from deep. 

The game kicked off a grueling stretch of four games in five days for the Hodags, that continued Thursday with a GNC showdown at Medford that concluded after press time for today’s edition. That game was a make-up of a snowed-out contest on Jan. 12. Rhinelander is back home tonight to face Tomahawk and will face Oshkosh West at UW-Stevens Point on Saturday. 

Lemmens said it’s a difficult stretch, but one that should help prepare the Hodags in the event they advance to the regional finals in next month’s WIAA tournament and would face the prospect of playing on back-to-back nights. 

“We kind of take Friday and Saturday like a playoff game where we just have to learn on the fly,” he said. “We have to adapt on the fly and we just have to say let’s out-execute the team’s we’re playing against. If we can throw in a wrinkle or two, that’s what we’ll do. But this is a great opportunity to simulate what a back-to-back night in playoff basketball would be like and how we have to take those chalk talks and implement the game plan through there.”  

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].