Redmen get a quality win, let second one get away
RIB LAKE BOYS BASKETBALL
Trailing by as much as eight and running into some early foul trouble, the Rib Lake Redmen got out of their man-toman defense, switched to a 2-3 zone and dared Owen-Withee to beat them from the outside Monday night.
The Blackhawks couldn’t do it. Rib Lake didn’t have the greatest shooting night either, but the team got six 3-point shots to fall, including some big ones at key times in the second half and that was enough to push the Redmen to a 66-61 non-conference road win that could have seeding benefits much further down the road.
Owen-Withee got a big night from their 6-4 standout Logan Amacher, who scored 33 points, including 13 secondchance points and 22 points in the paint, but he also had foul issues and eventually fouled out. His teammates went two for 26 from behind the 3-point arc and just couldn’t get that big shot to knock Rib Lake out of the lead in the second half.
The Redmen improved to 2-1 overall and have played well in their first three games, save for a last few minutes of a tough loss to Edgar Thursday. Owen-Withee fell to 1-1.
The Redmen, who shot 41.4% overall from the field, got balanced scoring in the win. They were led for the third straight game by junior guard Andrew Wudi, who had a 15-point, 11-rebound double-double, plus he dished out six assists. Senior guard Michael Borchardt had 13 points, four rebounds, two assists and two blocked shots. Tanner Vlach had 11 points, five rebounds and two assists. Jackson Blomberg and Donovan Sutherland scored eight points apiece and Dalen Gebauer didn’t miss a shot, hitting all three of his shots from the field and two free throws to score seven points.
Amacher had 11 early points to help Owen-Withee take leads of 17-9 and 19-12. Rib Lake starters Blomberg and Vlach and Dominic Quednow all picked up two fouls in the opening half and the Blackhawks got into the bonus fairly quickly. But the Redmen finally got some stops after switching to the zone and turned the tide late in the half, particularly after Sutherland drew a charge on Blackhawk Caleb Geldernick with 3:38 left and Owen-Withee leading 25-19.
Gebauer hit his free throws shortly after that, Vlach assisted Wudi on a cut to the hoop and Sutherland made one of two free throws with Gebauer tipping in the miss for a 26-26 tie with 2:12 left. That came after Amacher took a seat with his third foul of the half. Gebauer’s 3-pointer put Rib Lake up 29-26 at halftime.
The Redmen never trailed in the second half, but the last 18 minutes were tight for the most part. Amacher’s free throw tied it at 33-33 with 15:02 to play, but Blomberg broke the tie with a 3-pointer from the left side off a Borchardt kickout pass. Wudi assisted Vlach on a hoop and Borchardt drilled a 3-pointer to open up a 41-37 lead with 11:55 left. Wudi’s rightcorner 3 made it 44-39 and Blomberg hit another triple for a 47-41 lead with 9:12 to go. Mid-range jumpers by Borchardt and Vlach answered Blackhawk scores and freshman Talon Scheithauer hit two big three throws with 6:22 left for a 53-46 lead. Scheithauer was four for four from the line for his first four points of the season.
Geldernick, who had 13 points, banked in Owen-Withee’s first made 3 of the game to make it 55-50, but Vlach dribbled out of a trap and scored. Sutherland’s reverse layup made it 59-54 with 2:10 to go and Wudi made a big play, passing out of a trap near mid-court to find Borchardt for a layup that basically sealed it at 6154. Amacher fouled out shortly after that with 1:32 to go.
Owen-Withee held a slight rebounding advantage at 46-40 and neither team was great at the free throw line with Rib Lake making 12 of 22 and Owen-Withee hitting 13 of 25. Owen-Withee was 21 of 39 on twopoint shots to finish 35.4% overall from the field. But Rib Lake’s six of 21 from long range, scoring-wise, was the difference.
Rib Lake will be tested Friday at Marathon in a 5:30 p.m. tip that starts a boys/ girls Marawood crossover doubleheader. The Redmen head to Chequamegon for a key early-season battle with the Screaming Eagles on Tuesday at 7:15 p.m.
Edgar 61, Rib Lake 57
Crossover conference wins don’t often come easily for teams in the Marawood North and Rib Lake let a golden opportunity et away on Thursday in a 61-57 overtime loss to visiting Edgar.
The Redmen led the game all the way up to the final 1:30 of regulation, re-tied the game with 34 seconds left but then gave up the first four points in overtime and couldn’t recover from that while suffering their first loss of the 2022-23 season.
TheRedmenmovedtheballbeautifully at times on offense to create good shots, they shot a better percentage than the Wildcats and outrebounded them 3327. But the Wildcats changed the game midway through the second half when they got out of their man-to-man defense and went to 1-3-1 looks, both in fullcourt and half-court sets. The Redmen committed 18 of their 26 turnovers in the second half and overtime, which led to 20 of Edgar’s 25 points scored off turnovers in the game.
Brett Baumgartner led Edgar’s comeback, scoring 17 of his game-high 22 points after halftime. Teegan Streit scored 12 of his 15 points after halftime and Leyton Schuett scored eight of his 12 in the second half and overtime.
Rib Lake put four players in double figures, led by Wudi’s 16 points. He had seven rebounds, two assists and two steals. Blomberg scored 12 points, Sutherland scored 11 points and grabbed six rebounds. Borchardt had 10 points, five rebounds, four assists and two steals. The Redmen came out firing, getting a quick 3-pointer from Borchardt, a score from Wudi, a Sutherland bucket off a Wudi assist, a Borchardt assist on a Blomberg score and a steal by Borchardt that led to a Wudi basket and an 11-2 lead 5:30 into the game.
Edgar made a couple of runs in the first half, but Rib Lake fought the Wildcats off each time to maintain the lead, which grew to 23-18 at the break thanks to Blomberg’s reverse layup and two free throws by Quednow with 1:09 left.
The lead hit double digits at 37-23 with 3s from Blomberg and Vlach, a Sutherland back cut with an assist to Borchardt, a Borchardt score, a Wudi score from the baseline and Quednow’s steal.
Edgar started to chip away, but Rib Lake got the lead back up to 13 again at 47-34 and was seemingly still in control on a Borchardt triple with 7:07 left. That’s when Edgar made its move by scoring nine straight points to close within 47-43 on a Schuett shot in the lane.
The Redmen pushed the lead back out to six at 51-45 with 2:21 left, but Schuett hit two free throws with 2:07 to go and, after an Edgar steal, Streit got a 3-pointer to bounce in with 1:55 left, making it a 5150 game. After two missed Rib Lake free throws, Streit drilled a 16-foot jumper to give Edgar its first lead at 52-51.
Blomberg made one of two free throws with 1:16 left to tie it. Schuett scored with 1:02 to go and Blomberg evened it right back up with a baseline drive from the left side. Streit’s miss at the buzzer sent the game to the four-minute overtime.
Baumgartner broke the tie with two free throws with 2:45 left. After a Rib Lake turnover, he scored again for a 58-54 Edgar lead. Wudi’s 3-pointer cut the lead to one and the Redmen had a chance to win it after Streit missed two free throws with 16.3 seconds left, but Streit got a steal and converted a three-point play with 2.9 seconds left to seal it.
Quednow and Vlach added four points each for Rib Lake. Vlach had eight assists, six rebounds and two steals.
