Marshfield rolls past Hodag Hoops 70-34

Marshfield won the opening tap Tuesday night and turned it into Brooks Hinson layup just three seconds into the contest. That ended up being a sign of how things were going to go all night for the Rhinelander High School boys’ basketball team.

Hinson finished with 28 points, the Tigers shot just under 53% from the field and Marshfield rolled the Hodags 70-34 on the road in non-conference play.

It was Rhinelander’s third loss in four games, all outside of Great Northern Conference play. All four defeats have come at the hands of Wisconsin Valley Conference opponents. The Tigers (10-1, 3-0 Wis. Valley) are arguably the best Valley team the Hodags have seen so far and Rhinelander picked a bad night to have another poor shooting performance, going just 30% from the floor.

“They are that good and we just weren’t very good on top of it,” Hodag coach Derek Lemmens said. “They just continuously built. It wasn’t a spurt. They just continuously built.” 

After giving up a 10-3 run to start the game, the Hodags hung around for a bit, down 20-13 with 8:47 left in the half, but Marshfield went on a 22-6 run from there — including the final 11 points of the half — to take a 42-19 lead to the break. 

A couple of Truman Lamers 3s helped Rhinelander get to within 18, down 45-27 with 15:15 to play, but the Hodags made only one more field goal after that and the Tigers went on a 24-2 run to take a 40-point lead with 8:29 remaining. 

“Offensively, we started out kind of patient then we got very impatient trying to make up for all those points, thinking we’re going to make it up with quick shots and tough shots,” Lemmens said. “We only had 10 turnovers. We took care of the ball, but we just didn’t take good shots, took quick shots, didn’t execute any details. We’re not making reads, moving just to move or not moving. It was not a good night.”

Marshfield finished the night 11 of 30 from distance and was extremely efficient on offense, scoring 1.37 points per possession. Landon Lee chipped in 11 points. Chris Pohl and Brand Freis added nine points each.

“We were playing from behind defensively the entire time, keeping guys in front, getting out our positions, making controlled closed out,” Lemmens said. “Then the few times they missed, it felt like every single time at least one guy didn’t box and we gave them another chance. We just couldn’t get stops. We couldn’t stop their momentum and, after a little while, they just started rolling us.”

    Rhinelander’s Will Gretzinger attempts a jump shot over the Marshfield defense during the first half of a non-conference boys’ basketball game in Marshfield Tuesday, Jan. 2. The Hodags shot just 30% from the field in a 70-34 loss. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

Lamers was Rhinelander’s only double-digit scorer with 14 points. Will Gretzinger scored seven and Evan Shoeder had six.

At 6-4, Lemmens said his team has yet to play its best basketball.

“This team is far from its stride. We’re doing a lot of things that are still holding us back, whether it’s a lack of communication or the failure to execute details, moving the basketball, quick shots. All of these things continue to prevent us from being the team that we can be,” he said.

At 3-0 in the Great Northern, the Hodags are only a half game out of first in the league heading into a stretch where they will play the two other conference unbeatens back-to-back. That begins tonight with a road contest against a Lakeland team that’s off to a strong 4-0 start in league play.

“They’re very physical. They put the shot up and then they just pound the glass. They’re trying to push you underneath the hoop,” Lemmens said. “We’re going to have to match that physicality — guards and bigs. We’re going to have to hold them to one shot and I think we’re going to have to be able to pressure them and get them uncomfortable.”

That game will be the back-end of a girls-boys doubleheader in Minocqua. Tip-off will be approximately 7:30 p.m., or 20 minutes after the girls’ game.

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].