Raiders earn three more wins

shot 36.8% (14 of 38).

Alex Fortier led Lakeland with 19 points. His younger brother Will was held scoreless after he had 26 against Medford four nights earlier.

“The guys knew how many he scored that first game so to hold him to zero from 26 was a really good accomplishment for the team,” Brown said.

Medford travels to Antigo Friday before returning to Raider Hall Tuesday to face River Falls in one of the most highly- anticipated tests of the season. The Wildcats are 9-2 and led by 6-3 shooting guard Zac Johnson, who is committed to NCAA Division II Augustana and averages 24.5 points per game, and 6-9 twin brothers Liam and JT Dougherty.

Medford 59, Menomonie 44

A big 17-0 run broke a 42-42 tie and propelled the Raiders to a hard-fought 59-44 non-conference win at Menomonie Monday.

Medford never trailed again after giving up the game’s first basket, but Menomonie kept hanging around and finally tied the game with 6:25 left on a pair of free throws by Cole Fanetti as the Raiders had played without the injured Ty Baker since the middle of the first half and without Baumgartner since the 16:15 mark of the second half when he drew his fourth foul.

Baumgartner provided an immediate spark upon his return, hitting a short shot off the glass with 6:06 left and the Raiders’ defense from there was stellar, shutting out the Mustangs until a meaningless basket in the final seconds.

“That was my favorite part,” Brown said. “Those last four or five minutes, we shut them down and we rebounded against a team that was much bigger than us.”

Up 44-42, the Raiders got two free throws from Kuhn with 5:09 left, then a turnover led to Kuhn’s assist to Sullivan. Sullivan’s steal eventually led to more Kuhn free throws. After another Menomonie turnover, Baumgartner delivered the dagger, taking a kickout pass from Retterath and burying a 3-pointer from the right wing, making it 53-42 with 2:59 left. Sullivan passed out of a trap to get Baumgartner another score. From there, the Raiders hit four of eight free throws to seal the deal.

Kuhn led Medford with 26 points, including three quick 3-pointers that got Medford out to a 9-3 lead. He added five steals, three assists and three rebounds. Baumgartner hit six of 11 shots to finish with 16 points. He had two assists and three boards.

Sullivan chipped in with eight big points, including a late 3-pointer that allowed Medford to take a 31-23 halftime lead and a short pull-up jumper that answered a thunderous dunk by Menomonie’s 6-9 junior Noah Feddersen and put Medford up 42-37. Sullivan had four rebounds and two assists. Retterath had six points, including a 3-pointer, two assists and two rebounds. Hupf had three points, 10 rebounds, four assists and two steals.

“So many guys stepped up,” Brown said. “When Ty went out with 11 minutes left in the first half, I just kind of expected he’d be back in a little bit. But guys had to step up because he was gone. Then Logan got his fourth foul with 16 minutes left. We left him in because Ty was out and we wanted to have size to match Menomonie’s size. Once he was out, guys just stepped up. They held serve, they held that two- to four-point lead throughout the half. Then we got Logan back in there with about six minutes left. He and Peyton made some plays down the stretch to get that lead.”

Feddersen and Brock Thornton had 13 points apiece for Menomonie, who fell to 7-7 overall.

Medford 92, Lakeland 69

On Friday, Medford feasted on Lakeland’s 16 first-half turnovers and shot a blistering 59.5% from the field in the first 18 minutes while cruising to a 92-69 win in Minocqua.

The Raiders tore out to a 40-10 lead in the first 12 minutes and led 54-28 at halftime. Lakeland made one solid secondhalf run to pull within 68-47, Medford quickly silenced that and wasn’t close to being seriously threatened despite the 26 points from Will Fortier.

Kuhn hit 11 of 20 shots from the field and was atop Medford’s leaderboard with 29 points, 21 of which came in the first half. He and Baker both had team highs with five steals. Baker scored 15 points while hitting five of seven shots, including his only 3-point try and he was four of four from the free throw line.

Sullivan had 18 points off the bench on seven-of-12 shooting and a team-high seven rebounds. He had three assists. Hupf added 11 points and two steals. Baumgartner had seven points, three assists, three rebounds and two steals. Guden scored six points and had four rebounds, two assists and two steals. Wipf and Brigham Kelley each hit a 3-pointer. Wipf’s triple followed a score by Baker and contributed to Medford’s mini-run that silenced the momentum Lakeland had in the second half.

Medford trailed 4-2 in the early going when a Baker steal sparked Medford’s 38-6 surge that featured several scores off steals. The Raiders led 61-28 in the second half before Lakeland went on its 19-7 spurt. A hoop by Guden, an offensive putback by Sullivan, Sullivan’s 3-pointer and a transition bucket by Kuhn pushed the lead back to 82-51.

Medford finished with a 53% shooting percentage (35 of 66), including 67.6% on two-point shots (25 of 37). The Raiders hit 12 of 14 free throws. Lakeland shot well, hitting 54.2% of its shots (26 of 48), but their 24 turnovers, which resulted in 34 Medford points, derailed the T-Birds.

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