Athens uses 17-0 first-half run to pull away from Rib Lake
RIB LAKE BOYS BASKETBALL
The Rib Lake Redmen held Athens without a field goal for a six-minute stretch in Friday’s first half but they were unable to take advantage, going on a long drought of their own and never recovering in a 60-41 loss. After scoring five quick points in the opening seconds, Athens did not score again until Aiden Janke hit a long 3-pointer at the 10:15 mark of the first half. But in that time, Rib Lake only scored five points as well, tying the game with 11:00 left on a score by Michael Borchardt.
Then it was Rib Lake’s turn to go quiet. Athens pounced on that chance going on a 17-0 run over the next five minutes that made it 22-5 and was basically the difference in the game.
The loss was Rib Lake’s fifth straight since its season-opening win over Phillips. The Redmen are 1-4 in Marawood Conference play. Athens improved to 2-2 in league play and 4-2 overall.
Evan Guralski and Cooper Diedrich sparked the big run that won it for Athens. Guralski sank two 3-pointers and was fouled on a third, making two of the free throws. Diedrich, who scored a game-high 19 points, got a steal that led to a Kody Lepak hoop and got two buckets of his own during the 17-0 run.
After Rib Lake cut the lead to 11 on an inside score from Jordan Yanko, free throws from Tanner Vlach and a drive to the rim by Borchardt, Guralski nailed another triple to counter the Redmen’s 6-0 spurt. The lead went back to 17 before Sam Gumz scored with 32 seconds left to make it 31-16 at halftime.
Diedrich opened the second half with a three-point play and a successful drive to the rack to open up a 20-point lead at 36-16. The lead got as high as 21 at 40-19.
Rib Lake chipped away and got the deficit down to 42-28 on a Vlach 3-pointer with 10:20 to go, but Lepak got a threepoint play on a nice spin move inside, hit a 3-pointer from the corner and got a steal that led to a Diedrich putback that pushed the lead back to 20 at 52-32. Jack- son Blomberg hit a 3-pointer and Logan Blomberg scored twice to get it back down to 13 at 54-41 with 2:17 left, but that was the end of Rib Lake’s scoring.
Logan Blomberg scored all 10 of his points in the second half to lead Rib Lake in scoring. Vlach, Borchardt and Yanko scored seven points each. Andrew Wudi and Jackson Blomberg finished with three points each and Gumz finished with four.
Diedrich led three Blue Jays in double figures. Guralski scored 14 and Lepak added 12. Janke just missed with nine.
Yanko had six rebounds, while Logan Blomberg had five and Borchardt grabbed four. Borchardt had four assists, while Wudi and Jackson Blomberg had two each. Wudi had two steals and Borchardt blocked two shots.
Both teams made 15 two-point shots. Athens made six of 25 3-point tries, while Rib Lake was two for 16 and the Blue Jays were 12 of 13 from the free throw line compared to five of 12 for the Redmen.
Rib Lake hosted Abbotsford Tuesday in another Marawood North matchup held after this week’s early holiday deadline for The Star News. Rib Lake will next play a non-conference game at Colby on Jan. 4.
