Raiders avenge Mosinee loss, shoot down Everest

MEDFORD BOYS BASKETBALL

Three January losses to Great Northern Conference opponents took two-time defending champion Medford out of this year’s title chase early, but double-digit wins over each of those teams to close out league play served notice the Raiders haven’t gone away.

Medford wrapped up, at worst, a tie for second place in the final standings Friday with an impressive 66-55 win over the new champion, Mosinee, who came into Raider Hall with a 21-1 overall record and 10-0 mark in the GNC. Medford finished 9-3 in the GNC and, in an 11-day span, earned satisfying wins over Rhinelander and Northland Pines and got probably the best one Friday.

“It was pretty big,” senior Joe Sullivan said after scoring 13 points, grabbing five rebounds and dishing out five assists in his usual high-energy style. “Obviously it was our last game in conference and we beat them so they don’t go 12-0 and then, just our revenge games beating Rhinelander, Pines and Mosinee. This is huge.”

“They were coming with something to play for, going 12-0 in conference,” junior Logan Baumgartner said after scoring 17 points to go with nine rebounds, five assists and five steals. “Definitely the past two years when we did that, in that last conference game you’re a little nervous coming into it. We had something to play for. We didn’t like our last game against them. So we had something to prove that we were still here.”

Even without a student section from Mosinee present on a miserable winter night in the area, the win was earned in charged atmosphere on Parents Night and Military Appreciation Night at Raider Hall. The Raiders took the lead for good at 12-11 on a Charlie Kleist basket off a Baumgartner assist, led by as many as 15 in the first half and kept making plays any time Mosinee made a run in the second half.

Tanner Hraby led Medford with 20 points and knocked down four 3-point shots. This, however, was one of those games where no matter which five players were on the floor at any given point, they were contributing.

“It’s nice to get everyone scoring, everyone working together on defense, getting stops,” Sullivan said. “Everybody’s engaged on the bench. The fans were too. It was a fun atmosphere.”

Among the big moments early were 3-point shots by Brigham Kelley and Chubs Guden that helped Medford take a slim 10-9 lead and a shift in rebounding. Mosinee got some offensive boards and second-chance points. Once the Raiders cut that off, momentum shifted.

Hraby went to the floor to dig out a rebound that led to a Sullivan fast-break bucket and Kleist scored again off a Zach Rudolph assist. After Keagan Jirschele hit a 3 to pull Mosinee within 16-14, the Raiders took off, getting another Kleist bucket off a Baumgartner outlet pass, a Hraby score off a Baumgartner assist, a three-point play from Sullivan and a 3-pointer from Baumgartner to go up 26-17. Sullivan drilled a 3 from the top of the key off a Kelley kickout, Hraby sank a 3 of his own off a Sullivan kickout and Kleist then took a charge on Jirschele to crank up the energy in the gym. Mosinee got the last two baskets of the half to close its deficit to 32-21.

“Early in the game other guys got us some baskets when they were keying in on kind of our three scorers,” Medford head coach Ryan Brown said. “I think that really opened things up. Even Big Rig just being willing to shoot a 3 but then to knock one down was big because they were really sinking (6-4 Trenton) Dorn in the paint. That got everybody going. I thought what was impressive was Logan, Joe and Tanner just kind of let the game come to them. They made the right pass and the right play as other guys made points until they got going and they made some big plays down the stretch.”

Guden’s putback and Baumgartner’s transition score made it 36-23 early in the second half and the Raiders later grabbed a 42-30 lead on a Hraby 3, but Mosinee quickly cut into the lead, getting a Drake Grod triple and a three-point play from Jirschele. Mosinee’s 6-6 big man Davin Stoffel answered a Sullivan score with a 3-ball to make it 44-39, but Hraby got an inside score and Baumgartner got a putback and then a tip-in to push the lead back to 11.

Mosinee got within 53-46 on a Kyle Miller 3, but Hraby countered with a 3. Mosinee answered that with baskets by Dorn and Stoffel to get within 56-50 with 5:01 left, but Kleist fed a cutting Guden for a big hoop, Sullivan sank a 3 off a Baumgartner skip pass and Hraby stepped into a wide-open 3 from the left wing and buried it after the Raiders ran more than a minute off the clock for the dagger at 64-50 with 2:25 left.

The 5-9 Sullivan added the final highlight off the night by blocking a baseline shot by Stoffel in the final minute.

“I was just ecstatic,” he said. “I’m not one for taking charges, I’ll tell you. I really should, but I saw him coming and I was like I’m not going to stand here. I blocked him, I was just happy. I looked at (Baumgartner) and I was just like, ‘I got him.’” Guden finished with seven points, five rebounds and five assists, Kleist had six points and Kelley finished with three points, two assists and two rebounds.

After shooting a miserable 25.5% from the field in a 52-40 loss at Mosinee on Jan. 11, the Raiders upped that to 42.6% on Friday, made 10 of 23 3-point shots and held their own in the rebounding department where Mosinee had a 33-29 edge. Stoffel led Mosinee with 15 points. Grod had 10 points and Dorn had nine points and nine rebounds.

“It wasn’t like the intensity wasn’t there, but we missed a couple rebounds where we didn’t quite find our check,” Brown said. “Once we started to do that guys started to go look for opportunities to get the boards and it almost felt at times like we were pursuing it just a little bit harder than they were. It was huge when you look at the total outcome of the game.”

“We knew we had to come in here and outwork them,” Sullivan said.

“We always talk about playing at a 10 and that’s at your maximum and I thought we did a great job tonight of doing that and playing with that energy all game long,” Brown said. “That starts with our captains. I thought Chubs had great energy. Joe obviously is all over the floor. He’s a one-man press break and thank the Lord because the Jirschele kid can really get up and D you. Logan and the bench, everybody had great energy and that carries over.”

It is possible the teams could meet again in a sectional semifinal, which both sides certainly would look forward to.

“They hustle,” Baumgartner said of Mosinee. “They obviously have Stoffel, when he gets in the post you have to double him and if you double him, that leaves a guy open. He makes the right passes at the right time. We just rotated well tonight and played a good game.”

Medford will host Hurley (18-3), a Division 5 one-seed, tonight, Thursday, for Senior Night and the regular-season finale at 7:15 p.m. As the fourth seed in the WIAA sectional half-bracket, the 16-6 Raiders will host fifth-seeded New London (8-14) in a March 4 regional semifinal that tips at 7 p.m.

Medford 83, Everest 72

The Raiders added another quality victory to their season résumé on Tuesday, outshooting host D.C. Everest 83-72 in non-conference play.

Both teams did some damage from the 3-point line, but the Raiders had the edge there knocking down 15 of 27 attempts, including seven of 10 in the second half, to hold off all comeback efforts by the Evergreens.

While the Raiders were knocking them down from the outside, Kleist gave Medford a huge lift, inside by scoring a season-high 14 points and adding four rebounds and two assists in 26 quality minutes. He made seven of nine shots and scored a majority of Medford’s 30 points in the paint.

Hraby led Medford with 29 points, going 10 of 15 overall from the field and seven of 11 from behind the arc. Baumgartner was right behind him with 28 points on nine-of-19 shooting that included a deadly eight of 11 from 3-point range. He also had eight rebounds, four assists and two steals.

Baumgartner got in his groove early, burying three straight triples to turn Medford’s only deficit, 3-2, into an 11-3 lead. From that point on, Everest kept making runs at Medford, but the Raiders always found ways to counter stay ahead of the Evergreens, who are 10-13 overall but 8-3 in the Wisconsin Valley Conference.

Everest closed within 19-18 on a Connor McFarlane 3, but Hraby sank three triples in a two-minute span to push Medford out to a 28-20 lead with 5:51 left in the first half. Baumgartner answered a Joey Rombalski 3 with one of his own. Hraby took a kickout from Joe Sullivan and buried a left-corner 3 with three seconds left in the half to give Medford a 36-30 lead and nullifying a 3-pointer from Everest freshman Cohen Priebe.

Priebe started the second half with a trifecta but, again, Hraby countered with one. It was 41-37 when Medford went on the run that really opened things up. Baumgartner hit from outside the arc, Hraby scored off a turnover as Medford’s perimeter defense forced a couple of key turnovers during this stretch of the game. Hraby hit a 3 to cancel out one by Priebe and Baumgartner hit one from the right corner off a kickout from Hraby. Sullivan’s steal and ensuing hoop and harm made it 55-40 with 13:16 left and Sullivan fed Kleist on a transition chance to push the lead to 17. Baumgartner’s 3 made it an 18-point bulge at 60-42 with under 12 minutes to play.

The Evergreens got it down to 10 at 66-56 on Marcus Hall’s three-point play, but Kleist got two big offensive rebounds, scoring on the second one, and Hraby got an easy one in transition to get the lead back to 14.

Everest made another push, getting within 73-65, but Baumgartner’s 3 with 4:27 left quieted that rally. Kleist’s cut and score off a Baumgartner assist and free throws by Sullivan and Baumgartner in the final 1:24 iced Medford’s third win of the year against a Valley team without a loss.

Sullivan had a 10-point, 11-assist double-double and added five rebounds and two steals. Guden scored the first bucket of the game. Kelley had two assists.

Ben Prunuske had a big night for Everest with 25 points and 13 rebounds. Marcus Hall, who averages 29 points per game, finished with 19 and Priebe had 12 on four 3-pointers.

Tanner Hraby, who had 20 points in Friday’s win, walls off Mosinee defender Trevor Garski during the second half.MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS

Charlie Kleist