North built a quick 21-8 ….
North built a quick 21-8 lead, but backto- back 3s from Hraby sparked the Raiders’ comeback. They beat North’s 1-3-1 zone with stellar outside shooting and taking advantage of a couple of transition chances. Medford tied the game at 23-23 on Baumgartner’s steal and score and took the lead on Kleist’s putback, Kleist scored again to put Medford up 27-25. A basket by Sullivan broke a 2727 tie and Baumgartner knocked down back-to-back 3s to give Medford a 35-31 lead that was cut in half by Mitchell’s late putback.
“I really liked how we played,” Brown said. “I liked how confidently we shot the ball and attacked their zone the best ways we could and used our advantages. I felt there were just one or two twominute stretches in the second half that hurt us. Otherwise, we were right there. We had a little stretch there where we had turnovers on four straight possession and when we turned it over, they scored.”
Baumgartner had 17 first-half points, including five 3-pointers. He hit a 3 and four free throws to give Medford a 42-35 lead with 16:11 to go, but the Spartans tied the game with a 7-0 run. Hraby hit a pair of 3s to give Medford leads of 45-42 and 48-46. Medford was still within 5754 after a Baumgartner free throw with 7:47 left, but the game gradually slipped away from there as the Spartans started forcing turnovers and allowed Oshkosh North to get some easy transition baskets and Mitchell also got a couple of easy offensive putbacks. Thirteen of Medford’s 21 turnovers came in the second half as did six of Oshkosh North’s offensive rebounds and eight of its second-chance points. North finished with a 22-4 advantage in transition points.
Baumgartner finished with 28 points and sank six of 13 3-point tries. He had six rebounds, two steals and two assists. Hraby, coming off a 22-point night against Altoona on Dec. 21, had 20 in this one while making six of 12 3-point shots. He added four assists and two rebounds. Sullivan had eight points, five assists, three rebounds and two steals. Kleist had six points, two rebounds and two steals and Sam Blair added an early inside score.
Oshkosh North, who was 9-1 after the tournament ended, outrebounded Medford 31-19 and turned the ball over 15 times.
