Bowden leads Panthers to close win over Rib Lake
RIB LAKE BOYS BASKETBALL
The Rib Lake Redmen got seasonbest games from Dominic Quednow and Talon Scheithauer but it wasn’t enough Monday to take down Pittsville, who got 22 points from Sam Bowden in a 55-50 non-conference win.
Rib Lake had no answers inside for Bowden, a 6-3 senior, who made 10 of 12 shots, all in the paint, and had five rebounds. He hit a big shot with under two minutes remaining, fighting through a couple of Redmen to score on the left block to put the Panthers up 52-46. Moments earlier, Bowden had the assist to a cutting Jack Redmond on a bucket that put Pittsville up by five at 50-45.
Rib Lake, playing without senior Tanner Vlach who was on a tear before the holiday break, led 24-23 at halftime but got hit with an 8-0 Pittsville run to start the second half and never regained the lead, though the Redmen were never far behind.
Dylan Luther hit a 3 and Bowden scored twice in that run. The Redmen whittled the lead down to 31-30 thanks to a Donovan Sutherland score off a steal, two Scheithauer free throws and Jackson Blomberg’s score off a Scheithauer assist following a Pittsville turnover. Pittsville’s Marcus Getsinger and Scheithauer traded 3s, but Panther Braden Friday hit another to push Pittsville’s lead to four.
Scheithauer sank his third triple of the game with 8:35 to go and Quednow hit a tough shot over Bowden with 7:40 left to tie the game at 40-40. After a couple of missed free throws that would’ve given Rib Lake the lead, Pittsville took advantage getting back-to-back 3s from Luther and Getsinger to go up 46-40 with 5:50 left.
Quednow answered with a trey of his own to cut the deficit in half 20 seconds later. Rib Lake got a stop and had a chance to tie it but Andrew Wudi’s 3 didn’t find the mark and Bowden fought through a double team to score at the 4:15 mark.
Quednow scored off a Sutherland assist to make it a one-possession game with 3:39 to go, but after each team got a stop, Redmond got his score to push Pittsville’s lead back to five and the Panthers held at least a two-possession lead the rest of the way.
The first half also was close the whole way. Rib Lake led 4-2 off the bat, but Pittsville went on an 8-3 run to lead 107. Quednow scored off a steal and added another score to push Rib Lake into an 11-10 lead. Scheithauer’s steal and score put Rib Lake up 14-12 and his 3-pointer made it 17-15 before the Panthers scored six straight. Michael Borchardt’s 3-point shot with 2:15 to go put Rib Lake up 2221 and Blomberg’s floater from the right side with 25 seconds left gave Rib Lake its last lead of the night.
Quednow more than held his own inside, pouring in 17 points on seven-of-10 shooting and grabbing nine rebounds. He had 20 points total in the team’s first seven games. The junior also had five steals. Scheithauer had just 12 total points coming into the game and more than doubled that with 13 points on fourof- seven shooting, including three of six from long range. The freshman had three assists and three steals.
Sutherland had eight points and 10 rebounds. He added two steals and two assists. Blomberg had seven points, three rebounds and two assists. Borchardt was held to four points and four rebounds and Wudi had five assists, two rebounds and a point.
Luther added eight points for Pittsville, who improved to 8-1 on the year.
Rib Lake continued its trend of alternating wins and losses while falling to 4-4. The Redmen host Wisconsin Rapids Assumption Friday in a Marawood Conference crossover that will start at about 7:15 p.m., following the girls’ 5:30 p.m. game. Rib Lake hosts another doubleheader Monday with Prentice in a schedule change resulting from Tuesday’s girls postponement. The boys will again play game two in Monday’s doubleheader at about 7:15 p.m. in a key Marawood North rivalry matchup. The girls tip at 5:30 p.m.
The second round of Marawood North play starts Jan. 13 with a home game against Phillips.
