Hodag Hoops relies on defense in 54-32 win at Ashland­

ASHLAND — The Rhinelander High School boys’ basketball team was in an offensive funk for most of the second half on the road Thursday night at Ashland. Luckily for the Hodags they had built enough of a cushion, and played strong enough defensively, to withstand the swoon.

Will Gretzinger and Devon Feck each scored 11 points and the Hodags eventually pulled away to a 54-32 victory over the Oredockers. 

The win came in spite of a lackluster second half offensively for Rhinelander. The Hodags committed 17 turnovers over the final 18 minutes and had just nine points in the half with under six minutes to play before finally slamming the door with a 12-0 run. 

Despite that, Ashland never got any closer than 10 in the second as it was also turnover prone. The Oredockers committed 14 turnovers in the second, 25 overall for the game, and shot 34% (14 of 39) from the field.

“Thank God we faced a team that was a little turnover prone when they are playing fast,” Hodag coach Derek Lemmens said. “Our offense was struggling tonight. It started with shooting and it manifested into turnovers and other things as we kind of tightened up.”

Rhinelander made just one of its first 10 3-pointers in the second half and struggled overall. Gretzinger had just two points on 1-of-13 shooting before catching fire late, scoring nine in the Hodags’ late run.

“I think it was a little bit of shot of selection, but it was also we kind of came out casual,” Lemmens said. “I felt like we came out thinking we could just do whatever we wanted. We had a really bad turnover right out the gates and we weren’t taking care of the ball. We weren’t doing simple things. The turnovers that we had we’re just forcing it into a passing lane that isn’t there. We’re not creating passing lanes. It wasn’t one thing where you call a timeout and you shore up. We were doing everything we could wrong.”

The late salvo helped Rhinelander salvage a decent shooting night. The Hodags finished just under 40% on 21 of 53 and were 8 of 29 from beyond the arc.

“This just had a weird energy about it,” Lemmens said. “We’ve got to be a team where if the shot isn’t dropping, we don’t hang our head, we instead do other things that get us a little better looks. Then, once you see the ball go through the hoop, you see Willy G make the free throw and then, suddenly, the 3s go down. Once you see it go through the hoop a few times, good things happen, but we’ve just got to see it go through.”

    Rhinelander’s Evan Shoeder attempts a shot against Ashland’s Cooper DeBriyn during the first half of a non-conference boys’ basketball game at Ashland Thursday, Dec. 28. (Jeremy Mayo/River News)
  

Rhinelander led virtually wire-to-wire in the contest. The Hodags went up 17-7 over the first nine minutes and stretched that led to 31-17 at halftime. Rhinelander went 0-for-5, all from 3, and committed three turnovers to start the second half, but Ashland was only able to close to within 10 before Feck collected a steal and made a transition layup, and Truman Lamers added a driving finish to build the lead back to 14. Ashland got back to within 10 again at 35-25 on a layup by Haydin LePlavy with 12:31 left. Neither team scored for the next five minutes, before Feck knocked down a 3 from right of the key.

Lamers added nine points for Rhinelander and Will Quinn added seven. In all the Hodags had nine different players score, including senior John Currie, who netted his first career varsity points on a putback in the final minute of the contest.

“It was spread out but it was also hard to come by,” Lemmens said of the scoring. “Again, we have a lot of different guys that can make baskets, but we just need a little more consistency with making them.”

LePlavy finished with 10 to lead the Oredockers despite being saddled with early foul trouble. He picked up his third foul with 9:34 remaining in the first half.

The Hodags (6-3, 3-0 Great Northern) travel to Marshfield tonight to face the Tigers. It will be Rhinelander’s fourth game against the Wisconsin Valley Conference this season. The Hodags have dropped their first three games against the Valley.

“It will be very tough if we shoot like that, but I don’t foresee us shooting like that again,” Lemmens said. “I think, honestly, (Ashland’s) zone bothered us a little bit. I thought it got us out of our rhythm. We haven’t faced a lot of zone. It’s all things we can learn from.” 

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].