Rhinelander fends off Pines, remains unbeaten in GNC

A battle between two of the top teams in the Great Northern Conference, and two of its top scorers, did not disappoint on Friday night. 

Devon Feck and Mylo Albrecht both scored 24 points, but it was Feck’s Hodags that made more plays down the stretch as Rhinelander defeated Northland Pines 60-55 at the Jim Miazga Community Gymnasium.

Coming off career highs in points (25) and 3-pointers (7) in a win Dec. 16 against Wausau West, Feck nearly matched those numbers on Friday. The senior hit seven more triples in the contest for the Hodags. Mylo Albrecht was nearly his equal, however. Coming into the night averaging 21 points and 9 rebounds a game, Albrecht had 24 and 11 on Friday, but the Eagle offense went cold over the final four minutes as the Hodags inched away to the win.

“Mylo shot the heck out of the ball, and Pines played some really good, some really good basketball tonight, and it was a GNC battle,” Hodag coach Derek Lemmens said. 

That was in part due to Feck’s hot shooting. Six of his 3s came in the first half as Rhinelander (6-1, 3-0 Great Northern) turned a 14-5 deficit into a 34-22 lead. Feck finished the night 7 of 9 from the deep and has made a mind-boggling 14 of his last 19 attempts from beyond the arc. 

“The guy can shoot the basketball,” Lemmens said. “We gotta continue to get him looks. He’ll continue to find new ways — and teams are gonna start honing in on him, and now he’s got to learn how to use that to his advantage. He’s got to be doing things like setting great back screens, and getting teammates open, and leaving teams with no choice, but to help off so that he can get his shot.”

Northland Pines (5-2, 2-1 Great Northern) didn’t go away, despite trailing 34-26 at the break. The Eagles got the lead down to a single possession on three separate occasions early in the second half before tying the game at 44 on an Aiden Minx putback with 9:25 remaining. Pines went in front for the first time since the 6:40 mark of the first half on a Tyler Vojta layup with 7:55 to play. 

The lead changed hands five more times over the next 4 1/2 minutes, with the Hodags finally retaking control for good on a Jatyn Barkus make with 3:36 left. 

    Rhinelander’s Abe Gretzinger drives past Northland Pines’ Mylo Albrecht for a layup during the first half of a GNC boys’ basketball game at the Jim Miazga Community Gymnasium Friday, Dec. 19. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

The Eagles went the rest of the way without recording a field goal, and buckets by Abe Gretzinger and Rowan Wiczek made it 56-51 with 1:15 remaining. Ryan Rydeski made a pair of free throws to cut the lead to three with a minute left, but Wiczek hit a pair of free throws on the other end and Evan Shoeder gobbled up a rebound on a Mylo Albrecht missed 3 with just under 30 seconds to play. Shoeder made one free throw on the other end to make it a six-point game and the Eagles never got the lead back within a single possession.

“I thought finally, toward the end, our defense stepped up a little bit,” Lemmens said. “This was not our best defensive effort. I didn’t think we communicate consistently. We were hesitant, tentative, and when we’re defending, we’ve got to be the aggressors. We just weren’t tonight, so that’s something we’ll learn from.”

Pines, and Mylo Albrecht, came out with the hot hand. Albrecht hit four straight shots from the field and Nolan Huelskamp added a 3 as the Eagles took a 14-5 lead with 11:20 left in the first. Rhinelander responded by scoring 15 of the next 16 points before Feck knocked down four straight 3-point attempts to put Rhinelander up 34-22 with 1:50 left in the half. 

    Rhinelander’s Evan Shoeder beats Northland Pines’ Ethan Miller for a basket during the first half of a GNC boys’ basketball game at the Jim Miazga Community Gymnasium Friday, Dec. 19. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

Overall, the Hodags shot just under 62% (22 of 36) from the field and were 8 of 13 from deep. Gretzinger added 11 points for Rhinelander, Wiczek had nine and Barkus and Shoeder scored seven each. 

Ethan Miller added eight points for Pines while Huelskamp and Rydeski scored six each. Pines finished the night 37% from the field (18 of 48) and 6 of 22 from deep.

The Hodags won despite going 8 of 20 from the foul line in the contest — including missing five of their final nine attempts.

“I just felt like, mentally, we weren’t as focused as we need to be. And free throws and defense are a good indicator of that. So those are things that we’ve got to improve moving forward,” Lemmens said. 

Only two teams remained unbeaten in GNC play following Friday’s play — Rhinelander and Mosinee, which knocked off Medford 69-48 Friday at home. The Hodags will face Mosinee for the first time this season Jan. 16 in Rhinelander. 

“We’re in the position we’re controlling our own destiny. We’ve got that matchup down the road, but right now we just got to focus on Waupaca and continue to improve,” Lemmens said.

Waupaca is Rhinelander’s next opponent, in a 3 p.m. matinee Tuesday, Dec. 30 at the Miazga Gym. Lemmens said this week, though truncated by the Christmas holiday, will be a good reset as the team gets ready for the new year.

“This gives us some time to step back and get better at what we’re doing because we’re trying to do a lot, and right now, we need to get better at it,” Lemmens said. “This gives us that time to kind of grow. We’ll compete against some alums, so we’ll get great competition every day. And we’re just gonna keep moving forward.” 

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].