Redmen unable to finish three close ones, get rocked by Jays
RIB LAKE BOYS BASKETBALL
Close games had been the norm recently for the Rib Lake Redmen, but the Marawood North leaders changed that pattern on Tuesday.
The Athens Blue Jays held a 27-16 halftime lead and then pulled away from the Redmen with a 42-point second half while rolling to a 69-43 win on Rib Lake’s home floor. Athens sank 11 3-point shots and got 24 points from Cooper Diedrich as well as 16 from Kody Lepak in improving to 8-4 in Marawood play and 14-4 overall.
Rib Lake fell to 3-9 in the Marawood and 3-12 overall with Tuesday’s loss, which was the team’s fifth straight.
Andrew Wudi and Tanner Vlach led Rib Lake with nine and eight points, respectively. Vlach hit two 3-point shots and scored all eight of his points in the first half to help keep the Redmen within striking distance.
But Lepak got hot, scoring all 16 of his points after halftime, including four 3s, and Connor Sheahan added all 13 of his points in the second half as well, including another trio of 3s, to blow the game open. After a 15-point first half, Diedrich finished his big night with nine more points in the second half.
Athens made 11 of 25 3-point tries in the game, while Rib Lake was three of 17 and made just eight of 24 free throws. Athens outrebounded Rib Lake 45-31. Aiden Janke had 19 of Athens’ rebounds and scored nine points.
Sam Gumz scored seven points for Rib Lake in the loss, Logan Blomberg, Trey Klemann and Jackson Blomberg scored four apiece, Jordan Yanko had two points, Dalen Gebauer sank a secondhalf 3-pointer and Ryan Buehler added a second-half bucket. Logan Blomberg and Yanko had six rebounds apiece.
Rib Lake travels to Wausau Friday to take on 12-6 Newman Catholic in a Marawood Conference crossover that tips at 7:15 p.m. The Redmen will head to winless Gilman for a non-conference matchup Monday before hosting Eastern Cloverbelt Conference contender Columbus Catholic Tuesday. Those games also tip at 7:15 p.m.
Royals 60, Redmen 52
January ended Monday for Rib Lake just the way most of the month did –– with a winnable game slipping away in the final moments.
Logan Blomberg’s baseline drive put the Redmen up 52-50 with 3:20 to go, but Wisconsin Rapids Assumption’s Ryan Shaw came right back with a clutch 3-pointer from the right corner to put the Royals on top and they went on to score the next seven points to secure a 60-52 win in a tight back-and-forth battle.
The majority of the game was played with either team holding no more than a three-point lead. Assumption briefly held a seven-point lead in the first half and Rib Lake once held a five-point lead in the second. The Redmen continued to do a lot of good things, especially on offense with their cuts and screens creating many good looks. A handful just didn’t go down at key times and a couple of late turnovers were costly for the third straight game.
Logan Blomberg had a strong offensive game for the Redmen with 16 points, 12 of which came in the first half. Jackson Blomberg was one point off his season- high with 14, eight of which came in the second half.
Rib Lake fell behind 23-16 after Shaw hit all three free throws when fouled on a 3-point attempt with 6:06 left in the first half, but from there, the Redmen put together an extended stretch of solid basketball. Logan Blomberg hit from the baseline, Jackson Blomberg hit a 3-pointer and Logan Blomberg converted a three-point play off a Vlach offensive rebound to give Rib Lake a 24-23 lead. Vlach’s assist set up an easy lay-up for Klemann with 10 seconds left, but Assumption’s Reed Duellman sank a triple from the left corner with four seconds left to send the teams to their locker rooms tied at 28-28.
Michael Borchardt’s 3-pointer and a 14-foot jumper from Wudi off an offensive rebound gave Rib Lake a 35-32 lead and Jackson Blomberg’s 3-pointer off a Vlach assist later made it 38-34 before the Royals went on a seven-point run.
Back came the Redmen with a Jackson Blomberg free throw and then his banked-in 16-foot jumper. Yanko’s kickout pass gave Wudi an open 3 and he buried it. Jackson Blomberg’s hard drive to the rack put the Redmen up 46-41 with 8:20 to go.
The Royals went on a 9-2 run to take the lead on Duellman’s bucket, but Vlach cut back door and tied it off a Gumz assist. After the teams traded misses, Logan Blomberg made his strong move from the left side to put Rib Lake ahead for what turned out to be the last time.
Borchardt scored nine points for Rib Lake, Wudi added six, Yanko scored three and Vlach and Klemann both added two. Wudi and Borchardt each had six rebounds. Logan Blomberg, Klemann and Jackson Blomberg had five each. Vlach had six assists and three steals.
Duellman led the Royals (4-8 Marawood South, 7-10 overall) with 17 points, while Shaw finished with 15.
The Royals had a key statistical edge by making 14 of 24 free throws, while Rib Lake was just five of 11. Rib Lake outrebounded the Royals 41-34 and turned the ball over just nine times compared to 12 for Assumption.
Prentice 75, Rib Lake 63
For the second time in three nights, the Redmen were right there with a Marawood North rival heading into the home stretch but couldn’t execute as they hoped down the stretch and came up short in a 75-63 loss at Prentice.
Vlach did all he could to give Rib Lake a shot, dumping in a career-high 22 points that included six 3-point baskets. He hit three in each half.
But, in head coach Todd Henderson’s mind, the big differences came in offensive rebounding and free throw shooting.
Henderson said the team discussed in several timeouts the need to rebound, yet the Buccaneers got key boards in almost every crucial point in the game.
The disparity in free throws jumps out as well. Prentice shot 35 free throws and made 18, while the Redmen were just three of 10.
Offensively, Rib Lake executed well for much of the game, screening shooters open and attacking the rim when driving lanes opened up.
Vlach set an early tone by draining three quick 3s and Logan Blomberg added a baseline drive to put the Redmen up 11-6. Prentice countered with a 10-4 spurt that gave it a 16-15 lead, then another little run by the Bucs, capped by a Layne Blomberg 3-pointer and a Ty Heikkinen score put Prentice ahead 29-23.
The Redmen closed the first half with a flurry, getting two hard drives to the basket from Wudi, a 3-pointer from Borchardt and a lay-in by Gumz off a nice pass from Wudi to go up 32-31 with 30 seconds left. Alex Schantner hit a short shot for Prentice, but Jackson Blomberg swished a left-corner 3-pointer at the buzzer to give the Redmen a 35-33 lead.
That lead, however, would be Rib Lake’s last. Prentice opened the second half with a rebound bucket by Ashton Makovsky, free throws from Layne Blomberg and another inside score by Makovsky to go up 39-35. Yanko scored for Rib Lake in the paint and for the next 10 minutes the teams jockeyed back and forth.
A Reese Isaacson triple put the Bucs up 46-39, but Rib Lake got baskets from Borchardt and Logan Blomberg, who got his score off a Borchardt assist, to pull within 47-43.
Prentice’s Adam Granberg and Vlach traded 3s and then Vlach hit a tough baseline fallaway to answer a lay-up by Granberg. Prentice got out to a 61-52 lead that was shrunk to three on back-to-back treys from Vlach, one from the right wing and one from the top of the key. Those shots made it 61-58 with 5:27 left.
Unfortunately for Rib Lake, that’s when things slipped away. Makovsky drew a foul and made a free throw. After Jackson Blomberg missed a 3, Layne Blomberg hit two bonus throws for Prentice. Prentice got a stop and Granberg drove to the rack and scored. Isaacson scored after a Rib Lake turnover to open up a 68-58 lead with 3:00 to go. The lead didn’t get under double digits after that.
Logan Blomberg scored six points in each half to score 12 points for Rib Lake. Gumz and Wudi added eight points each, Borchardt scored seven, Jackson Blomberg finished with three, Yanko had two and Donovan Sutherland hit a technical foul free throw in the last minute.
Granberg led four Buccaneers in double figures with 18 points. Isaacson had 15, Makovsky scored 13 and Layne Blomberg added 10.
Eagles 76, Redmen 64
On Jan. 27, the Redmen played their second close game of the year with Chequamegon and, for the second time, the Screaming Eagles made the key plays down the stretch and pulled away for a 76-64 win at Park Falls.
The Redmen were within two with under five minutes to play, but clutch 3s by Chequamegon’s AJ Morgan and Joseph Newbury created some distance for the home team and a couple of costly turnovers hurt Rib Lake’s late efforts.
It was a solid outing for Rib Lake on the offensive end. The teams fought to a 37-37 halftime tie with Logan Blom- berg leading the way for the Redmen. He scored 14 of his team-high 17 points before halftime, including a pair of 3s. Borchardt also knocked down a pair of triples and had eight points in the half. He canned two more after halftime to finish with 14 points.
Wudi picked up some of the slack in the second half with the Eagles slowing Blomberg down. He scored all 12 of his points after the break, including two 3s.
Overall, Rib Lake shot 42.6% from the field (23 for 54) and hit 10 of 23 3-point tries while also scoring 24 points in the paint. The Redmen had just 12 turnovers compared to Chequamegon’s 15.
The Screaming Eagles, however, had a big edge in rebounding at 38-23, led by their 6-5 junior Isaiah Dietz, who had game-highs of 26 points and eight rebounds. Chequamegon shot 54.7% from the field and did a lot of damage in the paint, making 21 of 31 shots there. The Eagles were 24 of 35 overall on two-point shots.
Dietz scored 15 of his points in the second half. Morgan scored 11 of his 18 points after halftime and hit four 3s in his team’s win.
Jackson Blomberg scored eight points for Rib Lake, getting six of those in the second half. Vlach scored all seven of his points in the first half. Yanko and Gumz scored three points apiece.
Vlach led the team with four assists. Wudi was the rebound leader with four and Jackson Blomberg had two steals.
Rib Lake’s Jordan Yanko battles Cooper Diedrich of Athens for a loose basketball during Tuesday’s game won by Athens 69-43.EMILY GOJMERAC/THE STAR NEWS
