Team Review: RHS boys’ basketball

After a handful of down years, it’s safe to say the road to the Great Northern Conference boys’ basketball title once again runs through the Rhinelander Hodags.

Following a six-year title drought, the Hodags have now won back-to-back conference titles, winning both in dramatic fashion over Medford on the final day of conference play. Whereas the Hodags’ run in 2023-24 was more of an upset to outsiders, Rhinelander entered this season as one of the teams to beat in the GNC. 

Though the Hodags went through a rough patch during the middle of the season, they found their stride down the stretch — knocking off Mosinee and Medford in successive games to win the conference crown. That was followed by a last-second win over Rice Lake in the regionals. Though Rhinelander fell short in its bid to reach sectionals for just the second time since 2014, a 19-6 campaign gave Hodag fans plenty of reason to be excited — as was evidenced by a packed house in the Jim Miazga Community Gymnasium during the team’s playoff run. 

“Fans came to watch because these guys are fun to watch. These guys were skilled, they played hard, and they played the together,” Hodag coach Derek Lemmens said last month during the team’s banquet. “They play for each other. That’s one of those things you don’t get every single year. You don’t just find that anywhere. That’s what’s so special about this team. As exciting as the conference championship was, as exciting as this stretch and playoffs was, and the thought of what this team could accomplish, the one thing that I’m most proud of is the type of human beings these guys are, and those are the things that we’re really going to miss.”

Here are five storylines from the recently completed season. 

Fast start

Rhinelander came out of the gates strong, going 7-0 to start the season as it climbed into the top 10 in the WisSports.net Division 2 coaches poll by the end of December. Though the Hodags didn’t face many difficult tests in the opening stretch, the one they did yielded a thrilling finish and a milestone victory. 

That was a non-conference contest at home against Wittenberg-Birnamwood Dec. 10. The Hodags rallied from down as many as 11 points to defeat the Chargers 63-59 at the Miazga Gym. Seth Nofftz scored the go-ahead layup with 7 seconds remaining and Devon Feck hit two free throws to ice it after the Chargers were hit with a technical foul after arguing an offensive foul against them in the final seconds. 

The victory was Lemmens’s 200th as a head coach, all in 15 seasons at his alma mater.

“It was a great night for basketball and, again, we’re just so fortunate to have had such wonderful kids,” Lemmens said afterward. “I’ve always had amazing coaches with me, so it’s just been a special place to be. And like I said, I hope there’s a lot more (wins) to go.” 

Reinventing itself

Rhinelander’s fast start ended just as quickly when it was blown out 70-42 at Wisconsin Dells right after Christmas. That started a mid-season funk in which the Hodags lost four out of six games. That included a loss at Wausau East and a home loss to Medford in GNC play. 

Rhinelander went through some growing pains and offensive struggles during the stretch. Though the team scored 59.7 points per game in that span, it was giving up 63.0 points on contest. More concerning, Rhinelander’s offensive efficiency was at only 0.86 points per possession and the team averaged more than 20 turnovers a game in that stretch.

The worst loss of the bunch unquestionably was a 72-64 upset at Antigo in which the Hodags saw a five-point lead with six minutes to go vanish. Lemmens called that loss a turning point in the season when the team was forced to abandon a free-flowing offensive mentality and embrace a hard-nosed defensive style.

“And it really became their mentality,” Lemmens said. “You saw the switch after that Antigo game. As bitter and painful as that loss was, I think it’s one of the most important things that happened this season, because the reality of, ‘if we keep doing this, we can lose to anyone,’ really just sank in. And these guys made the change and they did what it took to then turn around, win the conference championship and be a team that no one was going to want to step on the floor with. If you step down the floor with this crew, you are going to be in a dog fight and they established that and it was a beautiful thing to see.”

Final push

That shift bore out in the numbers as the Hodags won nine of their final 10 games to end the regular season. Scoring (61.1 ppg) and efficiency (1.05 ppp) were up, but more importantly, opponents production dipped tremendously. Opponents averaged only 43.2 points per game in that span and were held to 0.74 points per possession. The Hodags forced 17 turnovers a game in that span and held opponents to just 26.4% from 3-point range. 

After the loss to Antigo dropped the Hodags to 6-2 in league play, they knew they would have to run the table in the GNC to even think of earning a share of the title. Tomahawk proved to be little trouble, but the Hodags had to fend off a pesky Lakeland team to win 62-57 and then withstood a late rally from Mosinee to win 64-61 and set up a winner-take-all championship game at Medford Feb. 27.

Rhinelander led that contest nearly wire-to-wire and relied on defense down the stretch. Though the Hodags went nearly eight minutes between field goals in the second half, a 13-point lead never shrunk below five as Rhinelander prevailed 51-43 to claim the conference title. 

“It’s a great feeling. Toward the start of the second half of this conference, we kind of stumbled a little bit and I think the way that they responded to that adversity and that stumble is the reason that we are what we are able to be right now,” Lemmens said. “They finished strong because they realized, you know, we can’t just go out and win. We’ve got to fight and they’ve established that fighter mentality.”

The Hodags earned the No. 2 seed in their regional for the efforts, but all that did was get them a playoff rematch with the team that knocked them out of the playoffs the year prior, Rice Lake. 

It looked as though the Warriors may knock the Hodags out again after they went up 42-41 on a Zach Orr 3 with less than 30 seconds remaining, but Feck answered with a toe-on-the-line 2 with 3 seconds remaining as the Hodags won 43-42. 

Rhinelander fell to New Richmond 62-55 three nights later in the regional finals.

Statbook

    In this Feb. 21, 2025 file photo, Rhinelander’s Devon Feck attempts a jump shot over Mosinee’s Treve Stoffel during the first half of a GNC boys’ basketball game at the Jim Miazga Community Gymnasium. Feck averaged 13.2 points and 4.4 assists per game for the Hodags this season. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

Rhinelander ended up with five all-Great Northern Conference selections for its efforts. Senior Truman Lamers was the only of the five to receive first-team honors, something that Lemmens said was a testament to the individual sacrifices the team made for each other. 

“We have a lot of kids that have taken basketball very serious, that have poured their heart and soul into this,” he said. “So to get those players to take that and put it on the back burner and do what’s best for the team, is really special. We had a lot of MVP caliber players and players that said we’re doing what the team needs.”

Feck and forward Evan Shoeder each were named to the second team while Jatyn Barkus and Abe Gretzinger received honorable mention. 

Lamers and Feck were the most dynamic scorers on the team. Lamers averaged 13.4 points per game and tallied 23 dunks on the season — virtually all of which came in transition off of turnovers as he led the team with 2.9 steals per game. Feck averaged 13.2 points per game. Though he struggled from the 3-point line this year, shooting just 33% after going nearly 50% as a sophomore, he was lethal from the foul line were he shot 95% (54 of 57) on the season. Feck also led the team with 4.4 assists a contest.

Shoeder averaged 10.0 points and 6.1 rebounds a game while Gretzinger, a sophomore, provided depth off the bench in the post for the Hodags. He averaged 8.5 points and 3.6 rebounds a contest. Barkus averaged 7.4 points per game and filled the roll as the team’s primary on-ball defender as the season progressed. 

What’s next

The Hodags will bid farewell to a couple of key pieces in the rotation with Lamers and Nofftz, but return a good piece of the rotation intact with Barkus, Feck, Shoeder, Gretzinger and sophomore Rowan Wiczek. The team also figures to get a boost with the return of forward Caden Sieker, who came off the bench as a sophomore but missed the entire 2024-25 season due to a shoulder injury. 

Repeating in the GNC will not be easy as Mosinee boasted a starting five full of underclassmen, including conference co-player of the year Brayden Reinke. Though Medford graduates a number of seniors, it figures to reload with a talented sophomore-to-be class. 

At the banquet, Lemmens challenged his returning players and those vying for spots in next year’s rotation to pick up where this year’s class left off. 

“We’ve done some really special things. So you get to write the next chapter. What do you want the next years to be? Because the next years are your years,” he said. “This is now your time. The seniors’ season is over. It’s now your time. And that time starts right now. That clock starts right now.”

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].