Offense cools as Hodag Hoops falls to Wausau West

Rhinelander High School boys’ basketball coach Derek Lemmens said Tuesday’s non-conference game at Wausau West would be a good test to see how the Hodags’ offense would fare against a strong defense.

Things were going well for the Hodags for a while but, eventually, the Wausau West defense won out. 

West used a 15-3 run to open the second half and pulled away, defeating the Hodags 56-47 in Wausau. 

Rhinelander (11-5, 6-2 Great Northern) went cold, particularly in the final nine minutes of the first half and the first nine minutes of the second. The Hodags had only five field goals and 13 points in that span, and shot 39% (19 of 49) from the field overall. That included a 4 of 26 night from beyond the arc.

“You know, we were taking some quick shots and we were missing some really good looks too,” Lemmens said. “We went 4 for 26 from three tonight. So when you shoot like that, you’re going to have a hard time getting points on the board. Part of it was some really clean looks and another part was again the quick shots.”

Rhinelander led 18-11 with 9:37 left in the first half, but West (14-4, 6-2 Wis. Valley) closed on a 15-6 run. The Warriors took their first lead on a Kargie Cooper 3 with 1:24 left in the half and went ahead for good on a pair of Bennett Matteson free throws with 3.9 seconds left before the break. 

The Hodags then stumbled out of the gate to open the second half as the deficit quickly ballooned to 14 points. In particular, Lemmens bemoaned second-chance points on three of Wausau West’s first scores of the half, which made it  35-25 with 14:22 to play. 

“The difference was there was a stretch where they were getting multiple shots per possession and just kind of being tougher than we were and then on offense,” he said. “

West pushed the lead to 19 with 3:04 remaining. The Hodags closed the game on a 14-4 run, but it was too little, too late.

“We played some gritty defense later on but we had a stretch like we’ve kind of had (recently),” Lemmens said. “It seems to be at similar times where we just I don’t know if we run out of gas or what but we give (up) extra points, we get careless on offense and you know that’s just enough to dig a hole. Then we’re expending a lot of energy and effort trying to get out of that hole.”

Devon Feck led the Hodags with 16 points but wasn’t immune to the Hodags’ shooting woes, going just 2 of 10 from distance. Abe Gretzinger added 10 points off the bench and Evan Shoeder had eight points. Meanwhile, West shut down two of Rhinelander’s top scorers, limiting Truman Lamers to four points while keeping Jatyn Barkus scoreless. The two were a combined 2 for 14 overall on the night. 

Griffin Lange scored 18 points to lead three Warriors in double figures. Matteson had 14 and Cooper had 10 as West coach Nate Lemmens, Derek’s younger brother, improved to 4-7 lifetime in the sibling rivalry series. 

Rhinelander is back in action on the road tonight at Tomahawk. The Hodags blew out the Hatchets 76-22 when the teams met back in December. Derek Lemmens said he hopes his team can use the contest to get some details ironed out, especially on the offensive side, before a key stretch run in conference play.

“We got some practice time here we need to go back to our non-negotiables and work the basketball,” he said. “You know it’s a tough balance. You want to give these guys freedom. You want them to be loose and comfortable but, like we said tonight, we are 4 for 26 from 3 and it’s not like we’ve been shooting the 3-ball that well. So either you’re not good shooters you’re not taking good shots. Either way, we need to be a little more selective in the shots that we take. We need to be a little more patient to get the rhythm shots that we want and we know we can knock down.”

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].