Boys shut down Mustangs, hold on in a GNC thriller

MEDFORD BOYS BASKETBALL

Opportunities were created for all five of Medford’s starters to attack the basket, and they did so confidently and efficiently Tuesday in a 64-41 non-conference win at Menomonie.

Sparked by 10 first-half points from Zach Rudolph and 12 from Logan Baumgartner the Raiders pulled away from the Mustangs with a 21-7 run that started midway through the first half and carried them to a 36-19 halftime lead.

Baumgartner finished with a gamehigh 17 points, with Rudolph and Charlie Kleist adding 12 apiece, Ty Metz adding 10 and Tanner Hraby scoring seven of his nine points in the second half.

The Raiders (12-3 overall) only made three 3-point shots, but they often found great success by patiently pounding into the post, where Metz, Kleist and Baumgartner all finished consistently. Medford outscored Menomonie 42-18 in the paint. The Raiders also limited the Mustangs to just 40 shots from the field by allowing just two offensive rebounds and creating 15 turnovers. Overall, they outrebounded the Mustangs 31-18.

Rudolph scored on a baseline reverse lay-in, added another short shot, kicked out to Metz for an early 3 and scored off a steal to have a major impact early as Medford grabbed a 15-10 lead. Charlie Morning scored for the Mustangs to make it a three-point game, then the Raiders took off.

Hraby started the decisive run by hitting a short jumper in the lane and Kleist sank two free throws at the 9:15 mark. Charlie Gierl got the ball to Baumgartner in the post for an easy score and a 21-14 lead, Rudolph hit a short pull-up jumper, then Baumgartner scored on a hard drive to the rack and a 3-ball. Kleist’s free throws and another Baumgartner score in the post made it 32-14. Baumgartner assisted on a Metz basket and, after Brody Thornton’s third 3 of the half for Menomonie, Rudolph finished the half by coming up with the ball after the Mustangs nearly stole it, and swishing a 15foot jumper at the buzzer.

Menomonie got no closer than 15 in the second half with the last time being 40-25. Medford countered by continuing to pound the ball into the post, getting the lead up to 24 at 52-28 on a score by Kleist and again at 55-31 on a Hraby 3.

Gierl closed out Medford’s scoring with four points in the late going.

Baumgartner completed a doubledouble with 10 rebounds. Metz and Kleist had six apiece. Baumgartner and Metz had four assists each. Hraby had three steals.

Thornton led Menomonie (5-9) with 11 points, while Morning scored eight of his 10 points in the second half and Clayton Fanetti hit two 3s while scoring all eight of his points in the second half.

Medford takes a 6-0 record into the second half of Great Northern Conference play, which starts Friday night in Antigo with a 7:15 p.m. tip. The Raiders then get their first look of the season at Rhinelander, who comes to Raider Hall for a 7:15 p.m. tip on Monday, in the make-up date of a Jan. 3 postponement.

Medford 73, Lakeland 72

Medford reached the halfway point of Great Northern Conference play undefeated, but it came with a major scare Friday from the host Lakeland Thunderbirds.

In the teams’ second meeting of the season, the T-Birds matched Medford point-for-point from 3-point range, shot the ball extremely well overall from the field and nearly erased a 13-point second-half deficit. But the Raiders got just enough free throws down the stretch to hold off that furious rally and escape with a 73-72 win.

Lakeland fell to just 1-5 in GNC play and are 6-8 overall, but for the second straight Friday, the T-Birds took a GNC title contender down to the wire. They were right with Mosinee the previous week before eventually falling in the final moments 76-65. Medford won the first game 82-72 on Dec. 2.

Extra possessions were huge for Medford. The Raiders outrebounded the TBirds 41-27 overall and got 15 of those boards on the offensive end resulting in 11 second-chance points. Medford turned the basketball over nine times, but just one of those came in the second half, which was crucial to opening up the lead and having just enough separation to hold onto it at the end.

Medford shot out of the gate with three outstanding possessions that produced a backdoor basket from Rudolph off a Metz assist and two 3s from Hraby that made it 8-0 just 1:25 in. Lakeland soon let Medford know it wasn’t going to be that easy, however, getting within three on several occasions in the half and then 27-25 when a blocked shot by Carter Quade led to a layup for Brayden Wiczek. Hraby’s trey was answered by a Quade 3 and Baumgartner’s score and countered by a Quade score off a nice cut to the rim and a triple by Ashton Anderson that put Lakeland up 33-32 at halftime.

Lakeland’s lead hit three on a couple of occasions to start the second half, but Medford took the lead for good when Hraby tracked down a long offensive rebound and fed Kleist for a basket that made it 48-46 with 11:10 to go. Kleist got a three-point play by rebounding his own miss, Metz slipped free and scored and then Baumgartner tracked down a loose ball on the defensive end and found Kleist all alone in the frontcourt for a two-handed slam dunk that opened up a 55-48 lead with 8:33 left. The lead grew to 63-50 with 7:05 left after back-to-back 3s from Baumgartner and Hraby, but after Lakeland got a stop, it got rejuvenated and made their run over the last six minutes.

Will Fortier, who led all scorers with 28 points, hit a 3 and added four more points in a 12-4 run that cut it to 67-64 with 2:14 left. Baumgartner and Rudolph each split a pair of free throws to up the lead to 69-64 with 1:45 left, but Anderson scored 20 seconds later. After Hraby hit one of two free throws, Quade swished a 3 from the left side of the circle to make it a one-point game at 70-69 with 32.4 seconds to go.

Metz hit one of two free throws, then Medford got a big stop as Kleist’s contest led to a 3-point airball from Quade. Baumgartner hit the clinching free throws with 11.4 seconds left and with Lakeland out of timeouts, Fortier’s 3 with four seconds left meant little as Medford did not have to inbound the ball as time ran out.

Baumgartner had a 21-point, 11-rebound double-double along with three assists. Hraby finished with 19 points, six rebounds and four assists. Kleist scored 15 of his 17 points in the second half and added six boards. Metz had 10 points and eight rebounds. Rudolph and Gierl finished with three points each. Rudolph had four assists, while Gierl had five rebounds.

Fortier had eight rebounds and five assists for Lakeland. Quade had 16 points and was four for seven from 3-point range. As a team, Lakeland was 10 for 24 from behind the arc, while Medford was 10 of 27. The T-Birds were 17 of 31 on two-point shots and finished at 49.1% from the field overall (27 of 55). Medford shot 39.7% (23 of 58) with the offensive rebounds helping to make up for some of the misses.

Medford made 17 of 25 free throws, while Lakeland was eight for 12.