Out of March magic

With its season — and a trip to the WIAA’s Sweet 16 — on the line, the hot and cold offense for the Rhinelander High School boys’ basketball team picked the wrong time to turn cold Monday night.

Jack Charbonneau had 27 points, including the go-ahead basket, as sixth-seeded New Richmond closed on a 7-0 run to knock off the second-seeded Hodags 62-55 in a WIAA D2 regional final at the Jim Miazga Community Gymnasium.

The Hodags, who rallied from deficits of 10 and eight points in the game, had their chances down the stretch after a Seth Nofftz layup tied it at 55 with 3:50 remaining. However, Rhinelander’s final six possessions resulted in two turnovers, three missed 3-pointers and a missed free throw as its hopes of reaching sectionals for the first time since 2022 came to an end. 

“The moment, for the first time, kind of got to the guys a little bit and then once we dug that hole, it was hard to get out of it,” Hodag coach Derek Lemmens said. “This New Richmond team is a whole crew of seniors. We had some seniors, but we had a lot of juniors and sophomores out on that floor and so when playoffs in the game on the line, that maturity, you just kind of saw the difference there.”

Down 55-47 with 8:07 to play, the Hodags came roaring back thanks to a 3 from senior Truman Lamers, a three-point play from sophomore Abe Gretzinger and the layup by Nofftz that tied the contest. 

    Rhinelander’s Jatyn Barkus attempts to deflect a pass by New Richmond’s Abraham Monson during the second half of a WIAA Division 2 boys’ basketball regional final playoff game at the Jim Miazga Community Gymnasium Monday, March 10. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

After a New Richmond turnover, the Hodags had a chance to take the lead, but Jatyn Barkus had the ball poked away at the top of the foul line, leading to a turnover. The Tigers, following a lengthy possession, got Charbonneau in behind Evan Shoeder in the post for the go-ahead layup with 2:08 to play. 

The Hodags turned it over again on the next possession. This time, Nofftz was stripped as he tried to drive inside and the ball caromed off his leg out of bounds. Rhinelander got a reprieve when Aiden Eckert missed the front end of a 1-and-1 with 1:07 left, but Barkus missed a contested 3 left of the key with 47 seconds left. New Richmond grabbed the rebound and was able to close out the game by hitting five of its final six free throws. 

“I think we just got a little excited and kind of lost our focus a little bit on what we needed to do,” Lemmens said. “We had some things that we were trying to get and, you know their pressure, played a role in that. They’re a very good defensive team, very physical, so that played a role.  

“As you move down the line and get later and later in the postseason, you have less and less room for error. When you are making those mistakes, you got to be able to make up for it on the other end and we just weren’t able to.”

Despite the late struggles, the Hodags shot an even 50% (23 of 46) from the field. They just ran into an efficient New Richmond offense and the stops the Hodag defense had been accustomed to getting in their stretch run were not there. 

    Rhinelander’s Abe Gretzinger battles New Richmond’s Jack Charbonneau for a rebound during the first half of a WIAA Division 2 boys’ basketball regional final playoff game at the Jim Miazga Community Gymnasium Monday, March 10. Charbonneau had 27 points and seven rebounds for the Tigers in their 62-55 win. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

Charbonneau, a 6-5 forward, proved to be particularly hard to guard. He had 18 points after halftime, finished 12 of 14 from the field and knocked down both 3-point attempts he took. Charbonneau took over midway though the second half, scoring 11 in a 13-5 run that broke a 42-all tie and put the Tigers up 8 with 8:07 to play. The 27 points were one off the senior’s season high.

“He hasn’t had games like this recently. I know he’s capable of them,” Lemmens said. “He really hurt us and the dribble penetration. I think we over-helped at times and allowed him to get those dump-down passes. We had some very uncommon lapses on defense and they made us pay.”

New Richmond came out firing, with three 3s in an opening salvo that put the Tigers up 15-5 just 5:17 into the contest. Rhinelander answered with a 16-3 run that included back-to-back 3-pointers from junior Devon Feck that put the Hodags up 21-18 with 8:49 left before halftime. Rhinelander led by as many as six before taking a 34-31 lead to the break. 

Charbonneau tied it at 26 on a right corner 3 three minutes into the second and Connor Raleigh scored on a layup to put the Tigers up 38-26. Though the Hodags tied the game on four separate occasions, they did not reclaim the lead the rest of the way. 

RJ Amundson added 10 points for New Richmond while Raleigh added 8. The Tigers finished the night nearly 57% from the floor on 23 of 44 shooting.

Feck led the Hodags with 14 points, Lamers had 13 and Gretzinger chipped in 10 off the bench. Lemmens said he was proud of his team’s resolve to rally twice in a pressure environment. 

“I think that’s one of the biggest things where this team became so different,” he said. “When you look at early in the year, when we went down eight, we tried to get it all back and next thing you know, we’d be down 21, 23. This team really was patient and allowed the game to happen, allowed their defense to do things and allowed their offense to break the teams down and didn’t feel rushed to make it happen. Twice they were able to battle back when they got into bad spots and again, that’s just the maturity that they’ve shown throughout this season. And that a big part of that is our senior leadership.”

While the Hodags bid farewell to a group of six seniors, the bulk of that leadership rested on the two starters out of that group — Lamers and Nofftz. 

“Right now, you know, it’s just all about all the things that this senior class has done for this team, and again, getting us back on top of the conference and getting us to be a program that when teams play against us, you know, they know that they went through a battle to make it happen,” Lemmens said.

Rhinelander ended the season with a 19-6 record — its best win total since going 20-3 in the 2017-18 season. The Hodags repeated as Great Northern Conference champions and earned their highest playoff seed since earning the No. 1 seed in the 2017-18 campaign. 

“Tons to be proud of,” Lemmens said. “This atmosphere, this gym, this doesn’t just happen. You know, they created a buzz and excitement around basketball and people came to watch these guys because of what they did when they got in the court. They played hard, played together, and it was really it was a fun journey, and it’s sad that it’s over.”

New Richmond was set to face Wausau East on Thursday in the sectional semifinals with the winner moving to La Crosse Saturday in a game to determine the state qualifier.  

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].