Redmen pick up momentum with two straight victories

RIB LAKE BOYS BASKETBALL

The Rib Lake Redmen rallied from an 11-point second-half deficit and edged Pittsville 48-46 Monday to extend a mini late-season winning streak to three games.

Rib Lake shot the ball well, hitting at a season-best 64% clip (16 of 25) that included 10 of 15 on two-point shots and six of 10 on 3-point tries. The problem in the middle of the game was that was when the Redmen committed the bulk of their 15 turnovers.

That allowed Pittsville to take a 26-21 halftime lead that eventually grew to double digits before the Redmen clawed their way back to win it and improve to 7-15 overall. The Panthers fell to 8-13.

“We were beating ourselves,” Rib Lake head coach Todd Henderson said. “We went to a zone in the second half and got down by 11, but they started turning it over and we did a good job holding them to one shot on their possessions.”

Senior Logan Blomberg continued his recent string of strong outings and led Rib Lake with 16 points. He had 11 of those points in the second half, including two 3-pointers. He was six for six from the field and led Rib Lake with seven rebounds, all on the defensive end. He also had three assists. Jackson Blomberg and Tanner Vlach also hit 3-pointers in the half and Sam Gumz scored all five of his points after halftime including three key free throws. The Redmen were just 10 of 18 from the stripe, but that was good enough to seal the win.

Michael Borchardt scored nine of his 11 points in the first half. Jackson Blomberg added a 3 in that half and finished with six points. Blomberg had three rebounds and two assists. Jordan Yanko scored five points and was three of four on free throws. Vlach had three assists and three rebounds to go with his three points and Andrew Wudi had a bucket and two assists.

Jordan Denniston led Pittsville’s surge late in the first and early in the second half with 13 points, including four 3-point makes. Sam Bowden wound up leading the Panthers in scoring with 17 points, 13 of which came in the second half. He also had six rebounds.

Rib Lake had a slight 21-17 edge in rebounding and held the Panthers to 41% shooting (16 of 39). Even with Denniston’s hot streak, the Panthers were just five of 20 from 3-point range.

Rib Lake will complete the regular season tonight, Thursday, with a home matchup against Marawood North rival Prentice at 7:15 p.m. The Redmen drew the 13th seed in the WIAA Division 5 sectional half-bracket and opens regional play Tuesday at Marawood North champion Athens (10-5, 17-6), who is the fourth seed. Tip time is 7 p.m. The Blue Jays swept Rib Lake in league play by scores of 60-41 and 69-43.

Tuesday’s winner will advance to a March 4 regional semifinal against either 12th-seeded Lake Holcombe (7-15) or fifth-seeded Bruce (18-5).

Rib Lake 72, Abbotsford 42

Logan Blomberg scored 22 points Friday, including 13 in Rib Lake’s first-half scoring barrage that put the team up 47-24 at the break in what became a 72-42 blowout win to complete a season sweep of the host Falcons.

Six Redmen scored at least eight points in the win. Rib Lake made 24 of 53 shots from the field (45.3%), outrebounded the Falcons 32-22, forced 22 turnovers and outscored Abbotsford by 15 at the free throw line by making 19 of 28 shots.

Four of Rib Lake’s five 3-point makes came in the first half. Vlach hit two and scored all eight of his points in the half. Logan Blomberg hit one and Jackson Blomberg hit one as well as he scored seven of his nine points in the half.

Borchardt scored seven of his 11 points in the half and Gumz made things happen inside, making six of 10 free throws in the half. He finished with eight points.

While the offense cooled a bit in the second half, Logan Blomberg hit a 3 and scored nine more points to help assure Rib Lake’s big lead didn’t get away.

Wudi scored eight points for the Redmen, who improved to 4-11 in Marawood play. Yanko added four in the second half and Michael Butler had a basket in the second half as well.

Borchardt led Rib Lake with nine rebounds, Vlach had six and Gumz, Jackson Blomberg, Wudi and Logan Blomberg had three apiece. Wudi and Jackson Blomberg both had two assists and Borchardt had three steals.

Abbotsford fell to 1-14 in Marawood Conference play with the loss and is 3-20 overall. The Falcons were led by Brandon Diedrich’s 11 points. Esteban Gomez added nine.