Redmen battle into second half, but not enough shots fall

WIAA DIV. 5: McDONELL 66, RIB LAKE 41

The Rib Lake boys basketball team accepted the challenge of facing Division 5’s top-ranked team Friday and gave the McDonell a battle for about 28 minutes before going ice cold and allowing the Macks to pull away 66-41 in the WIAA regional semifinal.

The Redmen, who finished the year at 13-13 led the now 26-1 Macks for a good chunk of the first half and cut a 14-point lead to seven with 11 minutes to play in the second half. A Tanner Vlach 3-pointer with 8:10 left kept Rib Lake within striking distance at 53-41, but that shot wound up being the team’s last points of the season.

The game-ending drought knocked Rib Lake to 21.5% shooting from the field for the game (14 of 65), obviously not good enough to knock off a team of McDonell’s caliber.

McDonell went on to defeat fourthseeded Owen-Withee 47-40 in Saturday’s regional final and will play its Western Cloverbelt Conference rival, 11th-seeded Thorp (11-15) in a sectional semifinal tonight, Thursday, at Chippewa Falls. The other sectional semifinal has Hurley playing Solon Springs in Ashland. The winners will meet in Amery Saturday for the sectional championship.

Rib Lake got a solid outing from junior Andrew Wudi, who scored 18 points and grabbed six rebounds. Senior Tanner Vlach had 12 points and six steals, while Jackson Blomberg had eight points, seven rebounds and two assists.

McDonell was led by its tough inside/ outside senior combination of forward Buchanan Huss who had 21 points and seven rebounds and guard Eddie Mittermeyer, who had 19 points.

Rib Lake shot well at the outset of the game, but its success faded as the game progressed. Blomberg with a pair 3s and Vlach scored off a steal to push the Redmen to a quick 8-4 lead and Vlach buried a triple off an offensive rebound by Wudi to give Rib Lake an 11-7 edge. Blomberg’s basket put Rib Lake up 13-9 with less than 10 minutes to play in the first half, but a 3-pointer by Huss and a Mittermeyer 3 off an offensive rebound sandwiched a score by Wudi and tied the game at 15-15.

Senior Aidan Misfeldt went on a personal 6-0 run that helped put McDonell ahead for good at 25-17. That was followed by a 3-pointer from Asher Rozowski that gave the Macks an 11-point lead, but Wudi hit a free throw and got a steal that led to a Vlach basket that got the Redmen within 29-20 at the break, even though they made just 25% of their shots from the field (eight of 32) compared to McDonell’s 40% (12 of 30).

A Mittermeyer 3 put McDonell up 3622, but Wudi led Rib Lake’s surge that closed the gap by sinking two free throws with 14:53 to go, nailing a 3-pointer and then hitting another 3 to make it 42-30. Vlach’s free throws after a technical foul and a Dalen Gebauer 3 got the deficit down to 42-35 with 11:50 left and Wudi’s 3-pointer got it to 45-38. The Macks scored eight straight points before Vlach’s final 3-pointer.

After that, Huss basically sealed Rib Lake’s fate by rebounding a missed Misfeldt free throw and turning it into a three-point play, scoring on a tough spin move in the lane and then converting another three-point play that made it 63-41 with 3:57 left.

Dominic Quednow had eight rebounds and three assists for the Redmen and Gebauer was the only other team member to score with his second half 3-pointer. Michael Borchardt had two rebounds, as did Talon Scheithauer who added a steal.

Rib Lake made eight of 33 tries from 3-point range, but made just six of 32 twopoint shots, including just one of 15 in the second half. The Redmen turned the ball over just nine times and forced 14 turnovers. McDonell outrebounded Rib Lake 51-34 and outscored Rib Lake in the paint 32-10.

The game marked the end of the line for Rib Lake’s senior trio of Vlach, Borchardt and Gebauer. Borchardt saw varsity time as a freshman and Vlach is a three-year letter winner. After completing his second year in the head coaching position, Todd Henderson should bring back a solid group of returning seniors next year, led by Blomberg, Wudi and Quednow and a strong freshman class, led by Scheithauer, may be able to make a stronger impact for next year’s team as well.