Improvement is evident in a near-miss

RIB LAKE BOYS BASKETBALL

A week after evening the score this season against Marawood North rival Prentice, the Rib Lake Redmen nearly got another revenge win Tuesday against Phillips, but some missed free throws and just better execution down the stretch by the Loggers allowed them to escape with a 58-53 win.

Phillips handily won the season’s first meeting 68-35 back on Dec. 18 and led by double digits through most of Tuesday’s first half. But the second half showed how much the young Redmen have improved as they shut down the 11-5 Loggers defensively for an eight-minute stretch and roared back into it, even taking a couple of three-point leads.

“When we played up there it was pretty ugly,” Rib Lake head coach Carrie Ewan said. “They whooped us in every way. We were down 11 at the half tonight, but we came out and right away got back with them. It was a great effort. The rest of the game was back and forth.”

Phillips senior Taber Fawley, who hit the 1,000-point mark for his career on the Loggers’ first basket of the game, scored 18 points, including 11 in the first half to help his team improve to 6-5 in Marawood Conference games, while Nate Belan hit three of the Loggers’ six 3-pointers and finished with 11 points.

Rib Lake got double-figure scoring from three players. Ryan Patrick led the Redmen with 14 points, Tanner Vlach had his second straight solid outing with 13 points and Logan Blomberg added 11.

“Ryan Patrick did a great job on the inside I thought,” Ewan said. “He just works really hard. He definitely has stepped up this year and been a leader for us. Tanner did well tonight and he really shot well against Athens Friday.”

The Redmen tied the Loggers early at 7-7 after Patrick got a score with some nice footwork in the lane and got fouled at the 12:24 mark of the opening half. After his free throw, the Loggers went on a 14-0 tear that quickly put them in control. Belan and Cameron Johnson sank 3-pointers in the run and Jordan Drexler added four points. Rib Lake got the deficit down to 26-18, Phillips went back up by 13 and Patrick scored off a Vlach assist late as the Redmen started to figure out the 1-3-1 zone employed by the Loggers and went into the locker room down 31-20.

The lead was still 11 at 36-25 following a Fawley free throw with 16:15 to go. That’s when Rib Lake made its move.

A Michael Borchardt basket got it started. The Redmen then perfectly broke the Loggers’ press and Vlach got a layup off a Patrick assist. Fawley scored, but Blomberg answered with an offensive putback and Borchardt got a steal and score to make it 38-33.

Patrick scored inside and Blomberg hit two of three free throws after being fouled on a 3-point shot with 12:08 to go. Blomberg’s cross-court lob pass found Patrick for a score that gave the Redmen their first lead since 2-0 at 39-38. Belan and Vlach traded 3s, then Fawley and Patrick traded inside scores and Blomberg sank two bonus free throws for a 46-43 lead with 7:21 to go. Vlach’s free throws at the 6:32 mark made it 48-45.

In the double bonus by that time, the Redmen had an opportunity to maintain that lead, but an unfortunate one-forseven stretch proved costly, even though the Redmen still were able to grab a 53-52 lead on a Borchardt runner with 2:01 left.

“I feel like the biggest thing was our missed free throws,” Ewan said. “That really cost us at the end of the game. If we would’ve made those it would’ve put more pressure on them and we probably could’ve beaten them. We had a lot of turnovers in the first half, maybe 10. In the second half, it was much, much better. We cut that way down and gave ourselves a chance.”

Phillips countered the Borchardt hoop 14 seconds later by feeding its 6-5 forward Braden Janacek, who scored and was fouled. He missed the free throw, but the rebound went out of bounds and was awarded to Phillips, who got another free throw from Johnson. Rib Lake came up empty on two straight possessions, Johnson hit another free throw with 45.2 seconds left to push the lead to three. The Loggers didn’t make it easy, but Rib Lake finally got a look at a tying 3-pointer with 15 seconds to go, but Vlach’s shot from the top of the key came up short and Derek Loomis hit two free throws to seal it.

Borchardt finished with seven points for the Redmen (3-9, 5-10), Andrew Wudi scored six and Brock Thiede had the game’s first basket. Ewan said the team’s execution and aggressiveness on offense has improved greatly since the season started.

“The guys really work hard in practice and give 100%,” she said. “That’s all I can ask. We’re just taking it game by game here. Our scoring punch is coming along. It’s getting better.”

Rib Lake returns to the home floor Friday with a Marawood crossover against Newman Catholic and then heads to Abbotsford for a North Division rematch with the Falcons, who they beat 66-52 on Jan. 12. Rib Lake closes its regular season at Stratford Feb. 11.

Athens 71, Rib Lake 54

Rib Lake had some offensive moments of brilliance Friday, but not nearly enough of them to keep up with the nineof- 19 shooting from 3-point range and 27 points from Cooper Diedrich in a 71-54 at Marawood North-leading Athens.

Overall, Athens shot just under 50% from the field (27 of 58) and only trailed once at 2-0 while improving to 7-3 in Marawood games and 14-3 overall.

Rib Lake was competitive early, getting the game’s first points on a Borchardt hoop that came off a Vlach assist, a Vlach 3-pointer and a Vlach assist on a Patrick score to make it 8-7. But a cold spell from the field coinciding with foul trouble for Patrick and simply hot shooting by the Blue Jays quickly opened up a lead that hit double digits at 20-9 and stayed there the rest of the night.

After a Patrick score off a Blomberg assist made it 22-12 and Thiede got an offensive putback to make it 24-14, Athens got a 3-pointer from Diedrich, free throws from Cobie Ellenbecker, a three-point play from Diedrich and another Diedrich hoop on an offensive rebound and nice spin move in the lane to open up a 34-14 lead. Vlach scored to end that run at 10-0, but Diedrich got another stickback and scored off a turnover and Dayne Diethelm buried a long ball for a 41-16 halftime lead for the Jays.

Athens extended its lead to 61-28 before Rib Lake finished strong, outscoring the Blue Jays 26-10 the rest of the way. Patrick had 10 of the points and Thiede had five.

Vlach led Rib Lake with 19 points as he broke out of a recent slump in a big way. Patrick added 18, Thiede scored seven and Borchardt and Blomberg scored four apiece. Wudi added a bucket.

Ellenbecker had 14 points for Athens, while Kody Lepak and Diethelm added 12 apiece. Diedrich made his night a doubledouble with 11 rebounds.

Rib Lake guard Michael Borchardt draws a foul on Phillips Logger Cameron Johnson during the first half of Tuesday’s 58-53 loss.MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS