A return to the summit

When the Rhinelander High School boys’ basketball team won its last Great Northern Conference championship in 2018, the Hodags were ranked in the top 10 in the state much of the year and had visions of a trip to the sectional finals — or even the WIAA state tournament — on their minds.

Those dreams were upended unceremoniously at home in overtime by an upstart Medford team that came to Rhinelander as a No. 9 seed and upset the top-seeded Hodags. Since then, Medford has seemingly owned Rhinelander, and the GNC — going 11-2 against the Hodags while winning three of the last four conference titles. 

With this year’s conference title in the balance Thursday night, the finally Hodags stood up to Medford and said “no more.”

Will Gretzinger scored 17 points in the second half and the Hodags held the Raiders to 33% shooting in a 50-45 victory at the Jim Miazga Community Gymnasium.

The game was a de facto conference championship game with Rhinelander (15-9, 10-2 Great Northern) and Medford (11-13, 9-3 Great Northern) entering the final night of the regular season in a three-way tie for the lead with Mosinee atop the GNC. The Indians (20-4, 10-2 Great Northern) earned a share of the title with an 81-65 win over Lakeland in Minocqua while the Hodags withstood shot after shot from the Raiders and conference player of the year Tanner Hraby to earn their first GNC championship in six years.

Rhinelander finally slayed the dragon to earn its league-best sixth GNC title and 25th conference championship overall.

“It makes it extra special,” Hodag coach Derek Lemmens said of beating Medford to clinch the title. “Coach (Ryan) Brown has had my number. Medford, every year, is just gritty, hard-nosed and two have two really good games against them is special. To be able to cut the nets down on our home court against a team like that is special.

“We’ve come close, some second-place finishes. It’s nice to get back on top and we just did it in a gritty way. We had amazing fans tonight. It was an awesome atmosphere and the seniors really stepped up. The players stepped up. I’m really proud of these guys an how they’ve evolved this season.”

Gretzinger rose to the occasion offensively late in the second half when his team needed it the most. He didn’t score until 10:10 remaining in the contest, but had 17 of the Hodags’ final 21 points and missed only one shot in the second half.

“This is what we dreamed of ever since we were little,” Gretzinger said. “We’ve always talked about cutting down the nets senior year. To finally do it, man, it’s unreal. Words can’t describe how good this feels.”

    Rhinelander’s Will Quinn defends Medford’s Tanner Hraby during the second half of a GNC boys’ basketball game at the Jim Miazga Community Gymnasium Thursday, Feb. 22. While Hraby scored 26 points, he was limited to 16 on 6 of 15 shooting when Quinn had the coverage in man-to-man defense. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

Tanner Hraby scored 26 for Medford, making tough shot after tough shot in the second half. Hraby finished the night 10 of 25 from the field while Hodag senior Will Quinn shadowed him much of the night. When Quinn had the man-to-man assignment, Hraby only had 16 points on 6 of 15 shooting with two turnovers.

“He’s a great ball player. He’s player of the year for a reason. It wasn’t just me. On (Medford’s) actions, my teammates were helping me,” Quinn said. “I just had to chase him the whole time, just be his shadow and make him uncomfortable as much as I could. He’s gonna make shots, which he did, but as long as you live with those shots, that’s all you can ask for.”

Rhinelander never trailed in the contest, and led by as many as 10 points early in the second half before the Raiders came roaring back to tie the game on three separate occasions. Hraby had the tying bucket each time, but missed a chance to put Medford ahead with 6:40 remaining, missing a free throw following an offensive putback. Gretzinger buried a 3 on Rhinelander’s next possession and the Hodags led the rest of the way. 

Gretzinger made big shot after big shot down the stretch, seemingly putting the team on his back on the offensive end of the floor and willing it to a championship.

“Just to get a shot in gets your confidence up, gets your team’s confidence up,” Gretzinger said. “We were able to rally in the second half even when they made some tough plays down there. We were able to keep going off of that energy and we were able to pull it off.”

“He’s done so much for us this year with the basketball. And what people don’t see is what he’s really become as a leader,” Lemmens added. “I thought, this year, from last year, what he’s done as a leader, what he’s done to bring his teammates up is really special. He’s really starting to show that this matters to him. Every practice, every game, the passion that he’s playing with is something you don’t get all the time.”

Hraby tried to do the same for Medford. He made a pull-up jumper with 1:17 remaining to cut Rhinelander’s lead to 47-42 and then a stepback 3 with 20.1 seconds left to make it 48-45. But Gretzinger was fouled on the ensuing inbound play, made both free throws to put Rhinelander up five. Hraby then missed a runner in the lane and, following a Rhinelander turnover, a desperation 3 just before time expired. 

As the horn sounded the celebration began. Rhinelander’s students poured onto the court before the Hodags were presented with the conference championship trophy and cut down the net on the north end of the gym.

“This is great. This is something these guys will remember, something these young fans will watch and aspire for. It’s just a special moment,” Lemmens said.

Neither team had much offensive flow in an unusual first half that saw seven offensive fouls called. The Hodags had five players with at least two personal fouls at halftime but still led 23-15 at the break thanks in part to a rough shooting half for the Raiders. Medford was only 5 of 22 from the field in the first half and 2 of 10 from distance. 

“Defensively, we did great things, and that was with a lot of adversity,” Lemmens said. “We had guys in foul trouble and they helped a little bit. You could tell early on it was like a heavyweight battle. There was a lot of nerves. There were a lot of travels and missed layups and missed opportunities. Once the game got in flow, I thought we continued to defend at a high level.” 

With Medford attempting to hold for the final shot and a chance to make it a one-score game, Quinn punctuated the first half by picking Hraby’s pocket and making a layup just before the buzzer to put the Hodags up eight. Rhinelander then got a James Heck bucket early in the second to take its largest lead, up 25-15.

Carson Carbaugh, whose steal and transition layup late in overtime helped the Raiders to a 57-55 win during the first meeting Feb. 1 at Raider Hall, answered with a 3 for Medford that sparked a 12-2 run. Hraby connected on three triples during the spurt, including a make with 12:30 remaining that tied the game at 27. He made another 3 with 9:20 remaining that knotted the score at 33-all.

“To try to contain a guy like Hraby is something else,” Lemmens said. “Will Quinn really just did a phenomenal job and the team, my proudest thing right now is the way we rebounded. That’s where the difference was made in Medford for them, and that was where the difference was made tonight.”

Sophomore Evan Shoeder had a hot hand early for Rhinelander, scoring 11 of his 13 points in the second half. Devon Feck added 10 as Rhinelander finished the night just under 47% (21 of 45) from the field.

Connor Klingbeil was the only other Raider in double figures with 10 points. 

Playoffs ahead

With a conference trophy secured in the case, the Hodags now turn their attention to the WIAA playoffs, which begin tonight at home against 12th-seeded Hayward in a Division 2 regional quarterfinal matchup.

Lemmens admitted to not having done much advance scouting on the Hurricanes as of Thursday, wanting to get through the Medford contest first. Rhinelander should be a heavy favorite against the Hurricanes (5-19, 5-13 Heart O’North), the last seed in the 12-team bracket.

Hayward does have a trio of 10-plus point scorers in 6-foot senior Nathan Harrison (11.3 ppg), 5-11 junior Tyler Eaton (11.4 ppg) and 6-1 sophomore Lucas Hansen (10.0 ppg), but has struggled on the defensive end of the floor, allowing 64.3 points per game.

The winner of tonight’s game will travel to fourth-seeded Rice Lake for a regional semifinal matchup on Friday. Gretzinger, who played a big role in the Hodags’ run to the sectional semifinals back in 2022, said he knows exactly what it’s going to take if Rhinelander hopes to make a similar postseason push this year.

“It’s going to take exactly what we did tonight, gritty wins,” he said. “The offense isn’t always going to be there, but as long as we’ve got our defense and we’re locking down, we’re a pretty tough team to beat.”

The game tips off at 7 p.m. Because it is a WIAA tournament game, admissions will be charged. Tickets are $6 for adults, $1 for kids age 6 and under, and will be available at the door one hour prior to tipoff. 

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].