Hodag Hoops tops Lakeland, sets up Mosinee showdown

MINOCQUA — Despite the records, it never seems easy for the Rhinelander High School boys’ basketball team when it steps foot on the floor at the Lakeland Union High School Fieldhouse. That was the case again Tuesday, but a strong second half kept the Hodags unbeaten in Great Northern Conference play. 

Devon Feck scored 20 points to lead four Hodags in double figures, and Rhinelander pulled away late to defeat Lakeland 67-52 in Minocqua.

The win moved Rhinelander to 9-1 overall, 5-0 in the GNC, and sets up a major matchup at home tonight against the other unbeaten in the conference, Mosinee, at the Jim Miazga Community Gymnasium. 

Lakeland (3-10, 2-5 Great Northern) made Rhinelander work to avoid its first conference loss. Jackson Burnett scored a game-high 26 points and the T-Birds led by six early in the second half before the Hodags pumped the breaks on Lakeland’s offense.

“It feels like every single time we step here, it’s a rough first half — not finding the hole, not running good offense. And then second half, we start to make some changes and do something defensively and spark it, and we’re able to put it away,” Hodag coach Derek Lemmens said. “Gritty win for the guys, great experience for them. And I like how, even though the shots weren’t falling and theirs were, guys found a way to get gritty and find a way.”

    Rhinelander’s Jatyn Barkus goes in for a reverse layup during the second half of a GNC boys’ basketball game in Minocqua Tuesday, Jan. 13. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

The Hodags used a 24-5 run during the second half to wrest control of the game away from Lakeland. Rhinelander answered Lakeland’s largest lead with seven straight points to go up 36-35 on a reverse layup by Jatyn Barkus with 11:48 remaining. Burnett drove to the basket on the other end to put Lakeland back up by one, but the T-Birds hit only one field goal over the next 7 minutes, 57 seconds. The Hodags took the lead for good on a Rowan Wiczek putback with 9:19 remaining and pushed the lead to 55-42 with 5:48 to play.

Rhinelander shot just 2 of 8 from 3-point range on Tuesday, and didn’t make a triple until Feck splashed one in from the left corner with 7:30 to play. Conversely, Lakeland hung around thanks to a 9 of 22 night from the outside — including five deep makes by Burnett.

“I thought our offense was very stagnant and we didn’t get much inside-out. We relied too much on kind of putting our head down and driving into traffic and just not a good offensive outing for us,” Lemmens said. “But like I said, they found a way and I like the grittiness, defensively. I thought Lakeland shot the ball really well. They made free throws, which they’ve struggled with all year as well. They gave us a really good shot and the guys were able to weather the storm.”

Lakeland had one last gasp. Three-pointers by Lincoln Friedley and Burnett cut the lead to 55-48 with 4:21 remaining, but Rhinelander made eight of its final 10 free throw attempts — and was 21 of 26 overall from the line in the second half — to salt away the game. 

The free throw success was encouraging to see, considering Rhinelander was 0 of 4 in the first half and had shot under 50% from the line over its previous three games. 

“We have good free throw shooters, and that’s the thing — free throws are mental game,” Lemmens said. “So when as a team, you’re hitting that slump, it just spreads through. It’s like a virus. Now being able to make some clutch free throws, hopefully we’re getting that confidence and that swagger back.”

Despite what Lemmens described as an off night, offensively, the Hodags still shot 44% (22 of 50) from the field. Bakrus added 15 points, Abe Gretzinger had 14 and Evan Shoeder collected a double-double with 12 points and 14 rebounds. 

“We have big expectations for us, and we know what we can do offensively when we’re playing good basketball,” Lemmens said. “We missed a lot of nice shots, but at the end of the day, we really just took some bad shots and just didn’t have a good flow offensively. Those are things that will shore up.”

Gabe Karch added 13 points for Lakeland as the T-Birds finished the night just under 35% (17 of 49) from the field. 

The game was back-and-forth early. Lakeland raced out to a 10-5 lead before Rhinelander rallied with a 13-0 run. The lead changed hands twice more in the half before Burnett scored on a drive with 35 seconds left that sent the teams back to the locker room knotted at 27 apiece. 

The win continued Rhinelander’s dominance over Lakeland. The Hodags have won 26 of the last 30 against the T-Birds, with Lakeland’s last win over Rhinelander coming back in 2022.

With the potential trap game out of the way, the Hodags turn their attention to a big home matchup tonight against Mosinee, which features two of the top forwards in the GNC in senior Treve Stoffel and junior Brayden Reinke. Rhinelander swept Mosinee last season en route to the conference title.

“It’s going to be a battle of the bigs. We’re gonna see how our bigs fair against theirs. And then our guards, coming off tonight, I’m hoping that they see what made them successful and when they struggled,” Lemmens said. “And now against Mosinee, can we see more consistently the things that they really flourish under as opposed to putting their head down forcing things.”

Tip off is set for 7:15 p.m. at the Jim Miazga Community Gymnasium. 

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].