MEETING THE CHALLENGE

MEDFORD IMPROVES TO 7-0 WITH BIG NON-CONFERENCE WIN

First game in run vs. ranked teams is a success

The Medford Raiders are in a spot with their boys basketball program where they crave a challenge, and they got one Monday with a schedule change that brought the Tomah Timberwolves to Raider Hall.

The state’s seventh-ranked team in Division 2 in the season’s early going brought height, shooting ability and physicality into the matchup, but the Raiders weren’t fazed by any of that and pulled away for a 69-53 win that kept them undefeated at 7-0 and could loom large in seeding arguments come February.

The Raiders held the potent Timberwolves offense to just 20 points in the second half and met their team goal of limiting them to 55 or less. After leading by just one at 34-33 at halftime and allowing the first hoop of the second half, the Raiders got a 3-pointer from Logan Baumgartner to re-take the lead and never trailed again.

“This was what we needed and wanted,” head coach Ryan Brown said. “Win or lose we wanted to play a good team and they were. They were big, athletic and physical. I thought in the first half we didn’t do a great job of rebounding the ball, which kept them around. In the second half, I thought we were much better. We played more of our defense.”

The defensive intensity was good throughout, but it went up a noticeable notch to start the second half as the Raiders seemingly contested every shot and every pass Tomah (6-1) made.

“I think that affected them because they have some really nice shooters,” Brown said. “They still hit some 3s, definitely. But we were there on the catch all night. I think that made them shoot from a little deeper than they wanted to and they were a little more contested. It’s amazing how that can get them out of rhythm a little bit.”

“That was a big game because they were also undefeated,” senior Ty Baker said. “They’re a big team. That will get us ready for River Falls, Menomonie, La Crosse Central and all them big schools. We had a goal to come out and try to hold them to 55 or less and we did it. That was pretty cool.”

“This is what we play for, these type of games,” Baumgartner said after leading all scorers with 27 points. “These are the games where we get better as a team. Now we can go watch the film and get even better.”

Most of the first half was played within a three-point margin, though Medford did briefly open up a six-point lead at 17-11 when Peyton hit the third of his six 3-point baskets on the night. His fourth made it 20-15, but Tomah answered with a 6-0 surge to lead 21-20. Baumgartner’s second of six longrange bombs put Medford up 23-21 and the teams battled point for point from there with Baumgartner’s free throws with three seconds left giving the Raiders their 34-33 lead.

After halftime, while the Raiders locked things down on the defensive end, Baumgartner started heating up with two early triples. Kuhn hit one and then Baumgartner hit another to open up a 47-39 lead with 10:10 left. Tomah’s 6-6 center Zander Williams scored inside, but Baumgartner answered that with yet another 3 for a 50-41 advantage.

“I was feeling it out there,” Baumgartner said. “My coach and my teammates all support me and tell me to keep shooting my shot. Lately I’ve been struggling but today I just felt good.”

“I said before the game this offense is designed to beat these teams,” Brown said. “You cut, you screen and you run through screens over and over, you’re trying to open up your shooters and all of sudden we got a couple of slips in the second half. The guys did a good job. When they tried to switch, we made the right choices. Sometimes the right choice was to just hold the ball and not turn it over. It was cool because everybody played a part in it. Everybody had their little things they did throughout the game to help us win.”

Kuhn, who scored 25 points in the win, hit his final 3-pointer and followed that with a steal and score to make it 57-46. Baker, who ran into some foul trouble entered the game with four fouls with about five minutes left and cut through the lane for a tough basket for a 59-50 lead. Joe Sullivan and Baker drew charging fouls for key defensive stops. Baker’s was a thing of beauty along the baseline as it resulted in Tomah’s leading scorer for the season, Dustin Derousseau, fouling out with 2:38 left.

“We stayed in good position, rotated early,” Brown said of the second-half defense. “I just think a good way to explain our second half was toward the end when Ty rotated early and took that charge. We did that the whole second half.”

“Defensively, we were just doing what we do,” Baker said. “We knew that would win the game. It was back and forth that whole first half. At halftime in the locker room, we just came together and said we needed this win.”

While Baumgartner and Kuhn accounted for 52 of Medford’s 69 points, the Raiders also got seven points from Baker, four from Joe Sullivan, three from Brady Hupf, two from Caleb Guden and one from Nate Retterath. Baker was the rebound leader with five as Tomah held a 40-28 edge in that department. Baker had five of Medford’s 12 steals. Baumgartner had three assists.

Drew Brookman scored 12 for Tomah and Williams and Justin Gerke added 10 each. Derousseau, who came in averaging 17.2 points, was held to five.

Medford will try to duplicate a playoff field next week by playing ranked teams on back-to-back days.

On Monday, the Raiders will be at Appleton Xavier, who was ranked fifth in the state in Division 3 to start the week. The 5-2 Hawks play a high-flying style that has them averaging just under 80 points per game.

On Tuesday, Medford hosts 4-1 Edgar, who was ranked fourth in Division 4 to start the week.

Medford 83, Rhinelander 47

In what was expected to be Medford’s first big test in Great Northern Conference play, the Raiders’ best 36-minute performance of the season resulted in the Raiders’ sixth straight runaway win in an 83-47 rout of visiting Rhinelander.

The Hodags were competitive in the first six minutes, but a 28-13 surge gave Medford a 43-26 halftime lead and the Raiders emphatically put it away with a 16-7 start the second half to build a commanding 59-33 lead with 12 minutes left.

“That’s exactly what we talked about at halftime,” Brown said. “In the first four minutes, let’s set the tone. We thought we did that. We started slow, but we really picked it up probably the last 14 of that first half to get ourselves in position to have that lead. We knew they had just seen our Rice Lake film and we wanted to take those first four minutes and really try to pound the first eight to 10 points on them to try to just send that message that we weren’t going to let them back in and I thought the guys really did a good job coming out with the same intensity and same defensive emphasis.”

The final numbers showed some of Medford’s best balance of the season. Kuhn led the Raiders in scoring with 20 points and hit four 3-pointers. Baumgartner scored 19 points and hit three 3-pointers. Sullivan came off the bench and was a key player in the game with 17 points, including three-of-six shooting from long range, and a team-high four offensive rebounds.

“His contributions are obvious when he scores points, but he did so many other things,” Brown said. “Defensively he was in great position. He probably led our team in offensive rebounds tonight. He was kinda matching that intensity that Ty brings. Those are big when you get extra opportunities to get points like that. Really all of our guys that come off the bench, just come in with that defensive intensity and they understand their roles so well.”

Hupf was five of six from the field while scoring 10 points. He had nine rebounds, four assists. Baker shook off two quick fouls in the first 2:05 and scored eight points, grabbed five rebounds and had three steals and two assists while providing his usual energy and creating extra possessions with his hustle.

“I thought he did just a great job,” Brown said. “The offensive rebounding and the second-chance points that he gets us. He helps engineer our offense. Even when he’s away from the ball, he’s running an action to get someone open. We just love the energy he brings and how he thinks the game. He’s always locked in to what our goals are.”

Retterath scored a season-high eight points and knocked down his first two 3-pointers of the season. Owen Wipf added a free throw.

Sullivan’s 3-pointer got Medford’s big first-half run started. Baker got an offensive putback off a Kuhn miss, Baumgartner and Sullivan hit free throws and Sullivan got an offensive putback for a 26-15 lead. Kuhn followed with a steal and score. As Medford widened its lead, Kuhn hit a deep 3-pointer, Baumgartner’s blocked shot on the defensive end, leading to a Hupf bucket on the offensive end, Sullivan rebounded his own miss and Retterath got a steal and score on a nice hesitation move.

Rhinelander opened the second half with a transition 3-pointer from Jackson Labs and then got hit hard by the Raiders’ opening surge. Baumgartner answered Labs with a 3 of his own and then assisted on a reverse lay-in by Kuhn. Hupf got an offensive putback and his save led to a Baumgartner hoop that made it 52-30. Sullivan hit a 3, assisted on a Kuhn bucket and scored off a perfect outlet pass from Wipf to extend the lead to 26. The lead got as high as 39 at 83-44 on Sullivan’s final 3.

Brown said Medford’s decision making on offense was impressive.

“They know how to score in transition,” he said. “They do a great job in making good decisions in transition. That’s a big thing we talk about is changing channels when it’s not there and I think they have really done a good job of knowing when to push, throw ahead or attack and when to pull it back and run our stuff because we can do that well too.”

Ross Skeen led the Hodags with 16 points, while Labs added 14. Rhinelander dropped to 2-1 in the GNC and 3-2 overall with the loss.

Medford’s Nate Retterath works inside for two points, beating the defensive efforts of Quinn Lamers (4) and Caleb Olcikas during the first half of Friday’s 83-47 win over the Hodags.MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS