Team review: RHS boys’ basketball

At the start of the season, Rhinelander High School boys’ basketball coach Derek Lemmens made a statement that proved to be prophetic.

“We have the ability to win this conference. I for sure think that,” he said. 

That proclamation seemed difficult to fathom at times, considering Rhinelander won only nine games the year before, that Mosinee appeared to be the prohibitive favorite entering the season and that Rhinelander ended the final stretch of the regular season just two games above .500.

Yet, thanks to a couple of key upsets and a gritty finish to the year, the Hodags ended up cutting down the nets at the end of the regular season. Rhinelander knocked off Medford in a game that decided who was going to share the conference crown with Mosinee.

It was Rhinelander’s first conference title since the 2017-18 season, and one that felt like it was a long time coming for the Hodags.

“I’m so proud of these seniors getting us back to the top of the conference and really just they way they were playing basketball at the end of this season, that’s a complement to their skills, their leadership and this senior class really got us back on track,” Lemmens said earlier this month during the team’s season-ending banquet. 

Here are five storylines from the recently completed season.

Early inconsistencies

Early in the year, the Hodags showed plenty of flash, but struggled to put it all together at times. 

In games Rhinelander won, there was a longing for a knockout blow, instead of letting inferior teams hang around into the final minutes. In games against good teams, the Hodags seemed to struggle to make  key plays down the stretch to secure wins.

The Hodags went 0-6 against the Wisconsin Valley on the year, despite having second-half leads against Wausau West, Merrill and Wisconsin Rapids. 

In conference play, the Hodags kept things close the first go-around against Mosinee, pulling to within six late before eventually falling by 12. Rhinelander then gave up 14 triples in a non-conference loss to Wisconsin Rapids and then watched a chance to pull off a signature road win at Medford go by the boards thanks to an ill-fated inbound play that led to the Raiders’ game-winning basket in overtime. 

Despite all of that, and sitting at 11-9 overall following a 69-54 loss to Stevens Point on Feb. 4, the Hodags were 7-2 going into the final three games of Great Northern Conference play and still were very much alive in the conference race. 

“We have weird energy right now. I know a big part of that is it just doesn’t feel like we’re in the running for the conference, but we are,” Lemmens said after the loss to SPASH. “We control our own destiny still. We’re in the driver’s seat. We’ve got to go out with great energy, take care of these conference games and start building some momentum so we can finish the season strong and really be the team that we’re capable of being.”

Run to title

After the loss to SPASH the Hodags responded with their best stretch of basketball all season, rolling off five straight wins to close out the regular season and begin the WIAA tournament. That streak included wins over all three of its chief rivals in the GNC title race. 

It started with a back-and-forth game against Lakeland in which Rhinelander pulled away late and won 65-55 despite shooting just 4 of 19 from 3-point range in the game. From there, the Hodags cruised past Shawano 72-55 in a non-conference contest, setting up a showdown with Mosinee.

Needing a win to keep any chance of a conference title alive, the Hodags rallied from down seven with 4:46 remaining to beat Mosinee 64-63 and set up a rematch against Medford with a share of the conference crown on the line.

The Hodags never trailed in that contest, but saw Medford rally from down 10 early in the second half to tie the game on three separate occasions. Gretzinger, the team’s top scorer took over for Rhinelander late, scoring 17 of the Hodags’ final 21 points as Rhinelander defeated Medford 50-45 to complete the conference comeback.

“We haven’t been conference champions in six years. It was really exciting to know we had that opportunity to get back there. This crew had to go on the road to Mosinee. They had to win against Medford and Lakeland and really started playing playoff basketball in early February. Despite all that pressure, they were able to finish the job and bring back that trophy,” Lemmens said. 

Postseason

Rhinelander hoped to parlay that late season momentum into a deep run in the tournament. However, after a convincing 65-40 win over Hayward to begin the playoffs, the fifth-seeded Hodags ran into a physical Rice Lake squad in the regional semifinals and fell 57-45.

“They’re the state champs in football and I felt like this was more of a football game than a basketball game,” Lemmens said. “I was really disappointed in that. It was very physical and we struggled with that physicality. I question the legality of a lot of it but that was the way it played out. I thought the guys adapted well and did a better job in the second half, but it was just a little too much.”

Statbook

    In this March 1, 2024 file photo, Rhinelander’s Will Gretzinger attempts a 3-pointer during a WIAA boys’ basketball regional semifinal playoff game at Rice Lake. Gretzinger led the Hodags, scoring 17 points per game on the season as he earned unanimous first-team All-GNC honors. (Weston Kibler for the River News)
  

Gretzinger was one of three players who averaged in double figures scoring for the Hodags this year, leading the way at 17.0 points per game. He became the first Hodag since Owen White in 2018 to eclipse the 1,000-point barrier — reaching the milestone on a deep, go-ahead 3 in the final minute of the win at Mosinee. 

Moreover, Gretzinger led the team in total assists and had the most made free throws on the team 

Gretzinger was voted as the team’s most valuable player while another Will — Will Quinn — took home defensive MVP honors. Though Quinn averaged less than 2.5 points per game, he led the team in assists, deflections and steals per game, all while typically drawing the assignment on the opponent’s best guard. In particular he hounded Mosinee’s Keagen Jirschele and Medford’s Tanner Hraby during the Hodags’ stretch run.

Sophomore Devon Feck made a big impact as the Hodags’ sixth man this year, averaging 10.9 points per game while shooting 49% from beyond the arc. Junior Truman Lamers averaged 11.3 points per game and was the team’s leading rebounder, averaging 4.8 boards per contest. 

Those four, along with senior James Heck (4.8 ppg, 4.0 rpg) earned all-conference honors this winter.

What’s next

Though the Hodags are graduating three key starters in Gretzinger, Quinn and Heck, if feels as though the window for a run of conference success is just opening for Rhinelander. 

In part, that’s because the overall depth of the GNC is about to take a hit. Mosinee will graduate Jirschele and big man Landen Thomer, who averaged a double-double in league play. Medford bids farewell to Hraby and, of the 23 players who received all-conference recognition this year, only seven are due back next winter.

The Hodags will have a bona fide shooter in Feck and will hope that Lamers regains the form he had over the first 11 games of the year, when he averaged 16.1 points, 4.9 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game.

Additionally, the Hodags will bring back starter Seth Nofftz (5.5 ppg, 3.6 rpg) for his senior year and will have some depth up front after sophomores Evan Shoeder (4.9 ppg, 4.1 rpg) and Caden Sieker (1.8 ppg, 2.0 rpg) saw appreciable minutes in the rotation this winter. 

All of that, plus underclassman talent coming up from the JV ranks, should put Rhinelander in a strong position to defend its conference crown.

“We’re really excited about it,” Lemmens said of the team’s future. “These seniors have gotten us back to where we want to be as a program. They’ve gotten us back to the top of the conference. They’ve gotten people to start looking at Rhinelander as a basketball program again. Now it’s on to those younger guys to say, ‘Hey, what can we do beyond this? How can we keep this going? How can we take it to another level?’”

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].