Early second-half surge separates the Hornets from Rib Lake

RIB LAKE BOYS BASKETBALL

Rib Lake nearly matched Colby shot for shot in the first half of Tuesday’s nonconference contest, but things got away from the Redmen early in the second half of an eventual 78-60 defeat to the Eastern Cloverbelt Conference contenders.

The Hornets turned a slim one-point edge into a 39-31 halftime lead with an 11-4 spurt that covered the last five minutes of the first half, and they broke the game wide open by starting the second half with a 34-9 blitz that assured the teams would end the game with opposite records.

Colby is now 6-2 for the season, while the Redmen, playing their first game in two weeks, fell to 2-6. Rib Lake played under the direction of assistant Luke Gebauer, who filled in for quarantined head coach Todd Henderson, who got to watch from home. Rib Lake played without injured starting senior forward Jordan Yanko as well.

“We didn’t shoot well from 3 and needed to get a few more defensive rebounds and/or have fewer turnovers,” Henderson said.

Brody Decker led Colby’s offensive charge with 24 points, while Richard Streveler added 17. The Hornets hit 11 of 38 3-point attempts but also did a fair amount of damage on the offensive glass and by taking the ball to the rack against Rib Lake’s 2-3 zone.

The Redmen hung with them early. Tanner Vlach hit two early 3s to keep Rib Lake within 13-12 and Andrew Wudi’s offensive putback made it 16-14. Colby opened up a 21-14 edge, but Logan Blomberg’s putback, a Jackson Blomberg score off a Vlach assist and a Sam Gumz bucket off a Wudi assist cut Colby’s lead to 24-20. The lead shrunk to one when Wudi found the trailing Vlach in a transition chance and the junior knocked down his third triple of the half. Michael Borchardt’s basket gave Gilman the lead at 25-24.

The lead didn’t last long as Colby got a putback and, moments later, two free throws from Streveler. Borchardt finished at the rim to make it 28-27, but that’s when the Hornets started to create some separation.

It started with the fourth 3-pointer of the half from Decker, then Streveler drove right through Rib Lake’s defense for a pair of baskets to make it 35-27. Free throws by Logan Blomberg and a Trey Klemann hoop made it 37-31, but Tucker Meyer got a late bucket for the Hornets.

Mateo Lopez opened the second half with a 3-pointer and from there, the Hornets were off and running, doing plenty of damage off turnovers and adding 3s from Kaden Wiese, Tevin Rue and Carson Rau as they surged to a 73-40 lead with six minutes left.

Logan Blomberg led three Redmen in double figures with 15 points, nine of which came in the second half and added 11 rebounds for a double-double. Vlach finished with 12 and Borchardt scored seven of his 11 points in the second half. He also had eight rebounds and three assists.

Wudi scored a season-high eight points in the loss and had a team-high four assists, while Jackson Blomberg aggressively attacked the basket coming off the bench and scored eight points. Gumz, Klemann and Dalen Gebauer added two points apiece. Gumz had six rebounds, while Klemann had five.

Rib Lake travels to Wisconsin Rapids Assumption for a Marawood Conference crossover Friday. The boys will play at about 7:15 p.m., following the girls game between the two schools that starts at 5:45 p.m. Rib Lake will face Marawood North rival Prentice on the Buccaneers’ home floor Tuesday, also at 7:15 p.m.