Hodag Hoops rolls Shawano 72-55

SHAWANO — The Rhinelander High School boys’ basketball team had one of its most efficient offensive games of the season Tuesday night. The Hodags will need that kind of precision tonight with its Great Northern Conference championship hopes in the balance. 

Seth Nofftz scored 20 points, leading four Hodags in double figures, and Rhinelander led nearly wire-to-wire in a 72-55 victory in a non-conference contest at Shawano.

Rhinelander (13-9, 8-2 Great Northern) heads to Mosinee tonight for a must-win game. With a win, the Hodags would face Medford at home Feb. 22 with at least a share of the conference title in the balance. A loss tonight would mathematically eliminate the Hodags from title contention.

“We’re playing for a conference championship,” Hodag coach Derek Lemmens said. “The next two games, we’re playing for something, which is going to be great to prepare us for playoffs. We control our own destiny in the conference race. Friday’s a big game on the road.”

The Hodags will come into the game off of one of their best offensive games of the season. Rhinelander shot an even 50% (30 of 60) from the field against the Hawks. They took the lead on a Nofftz 3 less than two minutes in and never looked back. 

Rhinelander led 31-23 at halftime and slowly stretched that advantage deeper into double figures as the second half progressed.

Much of its was due to patience and shot selection as the Hodags moved the ball effectively and found open teammates.

“I think we ended up with 20 assists and seven turnovers. Guys allowed things to happen,” Lemmens said. “Our lack of patience is what really prevents our offense from being what it can be. I thought tonight we moved the ball and when opportunities arose, we attacked them. We were patient and waited for those opportunities. That made a big difference.”

Nofftz’s hot hand didn’t hurt, either. The junior scored a career-high on 8-for-9 night from the field. That including a trio of 3s as part of an 11-2 run that put Rhinelander up 52-36 with 8:07 remaining. He also snagged a game-high eight rebounds.

“We know he can shoot. It comes down to him consistently being ready and wanting to,” Lemmens said. “Then you saw the rest of his game improve too. He had some nice dimes. He attacked the rim.”

Devon Feck added 14 points for Rhinelander while senior Will Gretzinger scored 13, putting him 28 points shy of 1,000 for his career. Truman Lamers added 11 points and eight boards and James Heck chipped in eight. 

    Rhinelander’s Truman Lamers (12) and Will Quinn defend a shot by Shawano’s Logan Sipple during the first half of a non-conference boys’ basketball game at Shawano Tuesday, Feb. 13. Sipple was held below his season average, scoring 19 points in the contest. (Jeremy Mayo/River News)
  

Freshman William Verkuilen led the Hawks (7-14, 5-7 Bay) with 20 points. Logan Sipple chipped in 19 as Shawano was held to 40% from the field. 

“I thought we defended them pretty well and that was kind of our game plan to just contain those guys,” Lemmens said. “They’re going to get theirs but they’re going to have to work for him and we did not let any other guys get rolling. I thought the guys defended pretty well and we held them to one shot most possessions. Things like that make a big difference.”

Rhinelander also controlled the glass against an undersized Hawks team, out-rebounding Shawano 39-22. The Hawks had only two offensive rebounds in the contest. 

It all sets up a big showdown with Mosinee, which handed No. 3 (D3) Appleton Xavier just its second loss of the season on Tuesday. The Indians defeated the Hodags 70-58 in Rhinelander Jan. 9, but the Hodags had that game down to a six-point margin in the final two minutes. Rhinelander held Mosinee’s leading scorer Keagen Jirschele to 13 points in that game, but other players hurt the Hodags as Mosinee had four players in double figures.

“We’ve got to get stops,” Lemmens said. “We got back cut a lot, especially in the second half. I thought Will (Quinn) did an amazing job defending Jirschele and I really felt we kept them off the glass, but we gave up way too many easy baskets at bad times and I also don’t think our offense was patient the first time around. The second time around we’ve got to know we can get really good shots.”

Tip off is set for 7:15 p.m. in Mosinee.

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].