Hodag Hoops begins tourney run tonight

For the second year in a row, the Rhinelander High School boys’ basketball team enters the WIAA tournament as a No. 2 seed in its half sectional as it looks to get back to the second weekend of the playoffs for the first time since 2022.

For all of the accomplishments this year’s senior class has had — including three consecutive Great Northern Conference titles —a long postseason run has eluded the squad. Two years ago, they lost at Rice Lake in a physical regional semifinal game. They avenged that loss last year on a late Devon Feck shot to beat the Warriors, but then fell to New Richmond in a weather-postponed regional final. 

The Hodags will open this year’s tournament run tonight against seventh-seeded Wausau East at the Jim Miazga Community Gymnasium. The Lumberjacks took care of Antigo 85-60 in Tuesday night’s regional quarterfinal matchup.

East, a state qualifier a season ago, is only 6-19 this year but has played a tough schedule that included a 74-63 loss to Rhinelander back on Jan. 27. Devon Feck had his first career 30-point game in that contest, scoring 30 points on 7 of 12 shooting from 3-point range. Feck had gone on to post 30-plus-point performances in each of his last two contests.

Senior guard Miles Casey had 25 for Wausau East in that contest and Hodag coach Derek Lemmens said he is expecting an uptempo game from an East team that averages 60.7 points per game, but is allowing 72.6 a game.

“I expect some zone. I expect Devon Feck to be found and hounded. I’m expecting to see, probably, maybe a little more aggressiveness,” he said, noting that Rhinelander committed 21 turnovers in the first meeting against the Lumberjacks. “I’d have to think they’re going to at least come out of the gates on our home court, try to get some momentum for themselves by attacking us and trying to turn us over and get us to cough it up.”

A win tonight will either mean a GNC rematch with Merrill or another Big Rivers Conference hurdle with third-seeded Menomonie tomorrow night at the Miazga Gym. Neither matchup would be easy. Though Rhinelander beat Merrill by 44 in their first meeting, the Bluejays hung with the Hodags in the rematch Feb. 13 in Rhinelander with the Hodags holding on for a 62-53 win. Merrill only lost by four when they faced Menomonie in non-conference play Dec. 30. The Mustangs took third in the Big Rivers Conference and are 16-8 overall.

Either way, Lemmens knows there is no easy path for the Hodags to next Thursday’s sectional semifinal and a potential rematch with top-seeded River Falls.

“We don’t have the outstanding team in the state that is going to be kind of a shoe in for the state tournament, but we also don’t really have many weak teams in this bracket,” he said. “When you when you look at team like East, when you look at a team like Rice Lake, these teams can beat any of the other teams. They have the pieces to be very scary. So there are no easy ones, and I really like what we can do in it, but at the same time, we have to be playing our best basketball because we’re playing really good teams every night.”

Game time will be at 7 p.m. tonight and tomorrow, assuming the Hodags get past the Lumberjacks. Here’s a closer look at Rhinelander potential playoff matchups this weekend.

(7) Wausau East Lumberjacks

Record: 6-19 (2-8, T-4th, Wisconsin Valley)

Record vs. half sectional: 4-1

Vs. Rhinelander: Lost 74-63 at Rhinelander Jan. 27

Season recap: After graduating much of the core that made it to state last year, it’s been a long season for Dan Garrett’s Wausau East squad. They came into the postseason having lost eight of their final nine games, though they were somewhat competitive against two of the Valley tri-champs, falling to Marshfield 80-69 on Feb. 18 and to D.C. Everest 88-70 two nights later. 

Players to watch: Senior guard Miles Casey averages 11.7 points per game, but went off for 25 in the regular season game against the Hodags. Xander Klein is another strong guard who is averaging 11.2 points per game. Both are strong 3-point shooters. Casey has hit 53 triples while Klein has hit 34. They’re joined by a couple of strong forward presences in 6-8 senior Robbie Angiulli (15.3 points per game, 7.5 rebounds per game) and 6-4 sophomore Connor Lemirand (7.2 ppg, 5.5 rpg).

Lemmens’s breakdown: “I think they try to speed you up. They try to get you to make poor choices and then they want to attack, and they want to play a high possession game of basketball … They have some nice pieces. They have good size. They have some guards that are really hitting. We have to just go out and if we take care of the basketball, we value each possession, we can put ourselves in a really good spot.”

(3) Menomonie Mustangs

Record: 16-8 (9-5, 3rd, Big Rivers)

Record vs. half sectional: 6-3

Season recap: The Mustangs are battle-tested out of the Big Rivers Conference and have some nice wins on their résumé, including a sweep of fourth-seeded New Richmond during BRC play by scores of 77-64 and 75-57. Interestingly, Menomonie has struggled against the GNC. While 2-1 against the conference, the Mustangs dropped an early-season decision at Medford 64-62 and were taken down to the wire in their home tournament against Merrill Dec. 30 before hanging on for a 61-57 win. Menomonie comes into the tournament averaging 62.3 points per game and his 34% from 3-point range as a team. If it’s close, note that Menomonie is shooting only 56.6% from the foul line this year. 

Players to watch: Junior 6-8 big man Trevor Robert can do a bit of everything for the Mustangs. He’s averaging 18.3 points, 8.7 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game. Senior guard Jack Rue is Menomonie’s top 3-point threat. He’s hit 78 triples and averages 12.8 points per game. Fellow seniors Isaac Nelson and Tyler Nelson both average more than nine points per game and have hit more than 20 3s on the year.

Lemmens’s breakdown: “Menomonie, they’ve got some guys that can really knock down the 3-point shot … We’re going to face a big man in the middle of a zone and we’re going to face some guys that can make shots.”

(6) Merrill Bluejays

Record: 11-13 (8-6, 4th, Great Northern)

Record vs. half sectional: 5-5

Vs. Rhinelander: Lost 72-28 at Merrill Jan. 8, Lost 62-53 at Rhinelander Feb. 13

Season recap: Close games have been the story for Merrill this season. The Bluejays are 3-6 in games decided by seven points or fewer. That includes two overtime losses to GNC co-champion Mosinee. Merrill split a pair of one-point decisions against Medford, and played the Nos. 3 and 4 seeds in the bracket tough, losing to New Richmond 80-73 and Menomonie 61-57 on back-to-back days in late December. 

Players to watch: The Bluejays have three players averaging double figures on the season, led by junior guard Tyson Ott (13.8 ppg, 5.4 rpg). He went off for 23 points in the second meeting against Rhinelander. Senior forward Eli Burtman is averaging 10.8 points and 7.2 rebounds per game and nearly had a double-double in the second meeting with 12 points and eight rebounds. Senior guard Cooper Wendorf, who did not play in the second meeting against Rhinelander, averages 11.2 points per game. Sophomore point guard Payton Zimmerman is averaging 8.8 points and 2.8 assists a contest.

Lemmens’s breakdown: “Merrill, they got some guys that are really starting to find their rhythm when you look at like Tyson Ott … I think Merrill and Menomonie are very similar teams.”

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].