Rapids’ hot shooting dooms Hodags

The Rhinelander High School boys’ basketball team hopes that tough non-conference games against its former Wisconsin Valley Conference rivals will help prepare it for the stretch run in the Great Northern Conference and for the WIAA tournament. 

First thing’s first for the Hodags, they need to learn to find a way to win the close ones against the Valley.

Rhinelander fell to 0-5 against the WVC on Tuesday night as Wisconsin Rapids hit 14 3-pointers and used a 23-4 run midway through the second half to pull away for a 74-66 victory at the Jim Miazga Community Gymnasium.

The Raiders finished the night 50% from 3-point range. Keaton Broeren was 7 of 10 from deep by himself as he tied for the game-high with 21 points. 

Rhinelander (8-6, 5-1 Great Northern) was up 48-41 with 10:51 to play when Rapids (5-10, 1-4 Wis. Valley) unleashed its 3-point barrage. They hit five of them — including three by Broeren — as part of a run that put the Raiders up 58-50 with eight minutes to play. 

“They made 14 3s and they did not miss a whole lot of them,” Hodag coach Derek Lemmens said. “Where that’s frustrating is our big emphasis yesterday and our point of emphasis in this game was they shoot a lot of 3s, just make them put the basketball on the ground. The first half, especially, we over-helped. We did not rotate the way we needed to. The second half, we just didn’t communicate and we gave them exactly what they wanted, and that was rhythm 3s — and they hit 14 of them.”

Though Rhinelander was a solid 48.1% from the field (26 of 24) and made 9 of 16 from distance, the deficit proved too much to overcome as it tried to force the issue down the stretch.

“Every time we needed, down 2 or down 5, and we needed a big play we took a quick, tough shot … We just are not the team we want to be in these clutch moments yet,” Lemmens said. 

“We’re a team that we just have to get better at these big moments. When I think back to a lot of our close losses, our 8-12 point losses have been incredibly close games late and once a little something goes awry we just kind of fall apart,” Lemmens added.

The Hodags had three players in double figures, led by Will Gretzinger with 16. Truman Lamers had 15 and James Heck chipped in 10. Will Quinn did not score but added a team-high eight rebounds and seven assists for the Hodags.

Rhinelander used a 12-0 run to go up 36-29 late in the first half, but a 3 by Broeren right before the buzzer cut the Hodags’ advantage to four at the break. 

Sean Roenius also scored 21 for the Raiders, including a layup that gave Rapids a 37-36 lead 1:30 into the second half. Rhinelander responded with a 12-4 push, capped off by a Lamers 3 to go up seven with 10:57 to play. 

The closest Rhinelander got after Rapids’ decisive run was six, as Devon Feck knocked down a triple with 1:02 remaining to cut the lead to 69-63. Traiden Clary, who finished with 14 points and 14 rebounds, answered with a free throw on the other end to push it back to a three-score Rapids advantage. 

Of the Hodags’ six losses this season, they have been within one or two possessions in the final two minutes in four of them. Lemmens said the biggest issue in the close losses is the team’s tendency to want to force plays outside of the framework of the offense. 

“We’ve got a lot of guys that want to do well, but they’ve got to understand that these big moments, it doesn’t mean it’s hero ball,” he said. “We take a lot of quick, tough shots in these big moments where it’s exact opposite (that we need). We want something easy. We want to work the basketball and get a rhythm look and continue to put pressure on the opposing team. It’s just us having to trust ourselves, trust each other and work the basketball to get great shots in those key moments.” 

Rhinelander hops back into GNC play at Northland Pines this evening. The Hodags defeated the Eagles 59-47 in Rhinelander back on Dec. 8.

“They’re another team that likes to shoot 3 and I hope we do a better job of defending it this time,” Lemmens said. “We’re still looking for some signature dubs. We know we have a ceiling but, right now, it feels like we’re plateauing and we get in these games and we do just enough to hang around instead of win these games.”

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].