Offense starts to click; Redmen get 10-point win over Abby
RIB LAKE BOYS BASKETBALL
Backed by its strongest offensive performance of the early season, the Rib Lake Redmen got a much-needed lift going into the holiday break with a 66-56 win over the Abbotsford Falcons on Dec. 21.
The Redmen’s 66 points were a season- high and the team nearly put four scorers in double figures and owned the paint with a 49-35 rebounding edge and 34 points in the paint while breaking a five-game losing streak.
Rib Lake improved to 2-5 overall and 2-4 in Marawood Conference play, jumping above Abbotsford and Prentice in the North Division standings. Abbotsford fell to 1-4, 2-5.
Junior guard Michael Borchardt lit up Abbotsford for the second straight time by scoring 23 points on nine-of-15 shooting from the field, Logan Blomberg added 15 points and made it a doubledouble with 11 rebounds, four assists and two steals. Jordan Yanko scored eight of his 10 points in the second half and made five of 11 field-goal attempts and he had six rebounds.
Borchardt had a prep career-high 24 points in 69-58 win at Abbotsford late last season.
From the perimeter, Tanner Vlach hit three of eight 3-point shots to score nine points for Rib Lake. Two of those 3s came in the first half when Rib Lake built a 3225 halftime lead. Borchardt had 11 points in the half on five field goals, with one of them being a 3. He had four field goals and was four of four from the free throw line in the second half.
Abbotsford stayed close in the first half behind eight points, including two 3s, from sophomore Jose Castillo and six from senior Brandon Hawkey. Their leading scorer, Brandon Diedrich got hot in the second half, nailing three 3s and scoring 13 of his 18 points in the period.
But it wasn’t enough to offset Rib Lake’s 34-31 scoring edge over the Fal- cons in the half.
Rib Lake shot 39.7% from the field (25 of 63), its best percentage since the team’s season-opening win over Phillips, and had assists on 19 of those field goals. The 63 field-goal attempts were a season-high, aided by 18 offensive rebounds, which led to 14 second-chance points. The Redmen were 21 of 48 (43.8%) on two-point shots and 17 of 41 (41.5%) in the paint.
Both teams turned the ball over 20 times and Abbotsford had a 20-9 advantage in scoring off of them.
Borchardt had six rebounds, three assists and two steals. Vlach added five rebounds, five assists and three steals. Andrew Wudi had five points, a team-high seven assists and six rebounds in the win. Trey Klemann filled his role with two points and eight rebounds, including five on the offensive end. Jackson Blomberg had a bucket and Sam Gumz added two rebounds and a steal.
Estaban Gomez was Abbotsford’s other double-digit scorer with 11 points, nine of which came in the second half.
Rib Lake gets back into action Tuesday with a non-conference game at Colby that tips at 7:15 p.m. The Redmen will head to Wisconsin Rapids Assumption Jan. 7 for a Marawood crossover doubleheader with the Royals, which starts with the girls game at 5:30 p.m.
