Inspired opening defensive effort carries Raiders to big road win

MEDFORD 54, CHIPPEWA FALLS 36

Joey Sullivan poured in a career-high 24 points and the Medford Raiders set a strong tone with some strong defensive play, particularly in the first half, in a 54-36 season-opening win Tuesday night at Chippewa Falls.

The Raiders got off to a slow offensive start, scoring just two points in nearly eight minutes. But once they started finding the hoop, they quickly surged ahead and stayed ahead to earn the program’s first win over the Cardinals (0-2) in three years.

“It was really good to see us just compete on the defensive end,” Medford head coach Ryan Brown said, admitting the coaches weren’t quite sure what they were going to see from their new-look group in game one. “We were closing out, jumping to the ball stunting, boxing out in our man-to-man. We really came out and executed defensively for 36 minutes.”

Sullivan scored 13 first-half points while teammate Logan Baumgartner spent time on the sideline with two early fouls and Tanner Hraby hit back-to-back 3s in the run that put Medford ahead to stay. Hraby’s first triple came directly off a steal and he connected again from the top of the key on Medford’s next possession for a 20-12 lead with 4:45 left. Sullivan scored Medford’s next nine points, including a bucket off a Baumgartner assist following a scramble for a loose ball and a hoop off a Brigham Kelley assist as the Raiders surged to a 29-16 halftime lead. “Tanner hit those first couple of 3s and that’s what got us going,” Brown said. “He had that nice steal and hit the 3 off of that and that seemed to start the energy for us. Then Joe just took over. It was fun to watch. He was changing speeds and directions and scoring so many different ways.”

Baumgartner and Sullivan were the finishers as Medford pushed the lead as high as 16 early in the second half. Baumgartner’s steal and score made it 35-19 and Sullivan made it 38-23 with a nifty crossover move at the right block at the 12-minute mark.

Kansas Smith hit back-to-back 3s to pull Chippewa Falls within 38-29 and Keion Twyman blocked a shot by Baumgartner, leading to a transition hoop for Christian Crumbaker that got the Cardinals within 38-31. But Hraby answered with a 3-pointer at the 9:15 mark that temporarily stopped the home team’s surge. The Cardinals again got within seven at 43-36 on a Mason Monarski triple with 4:44 left, but those were Chi-Hi’s last points. The Raiders closed with an 11-0 run that started with a Baumgartner drive to the rack with 1:45 left and continued with bonus free throws by Sullivan and then his steal and score. Hraby sealed it by scoring off a long inbound pass from Baumgartner with a minute to go.

“There were two key points in the game,” Brown said. “There were those first seven or eight minutes where we didn’t score but the defense kept us close, then there were those last five minutes where they hit a 3 to get within 43-36 but then they didn’t score again. In those two points in the game that’s what you want. You want to set the tone early on the defensive end and then that’s how you want to close it out.”

Brown said he was happy to see the team take what it learned from a scrimmage at Eau Claire North on Nov. 22 that showed some of the rough edges the Raiders had to start the season.

“The scrimmage was so good for us,” Brown said. “That was a fast, strong, physical team and everything they did was a counter to what we do. We found out what our weaknesses were, we drilled them well in practice and the guys bought into what we needed to do to improve.”

Sullivan hit nine of 17 shots from the field and was six for eight from the free throw line. He had eight rebounds and three steals. Baumgartner finished with 11 points, nine in the second half, and grabbed 10 rebounds. Hraby had 11 points, four rebounds and two steals in his first varsity start and was the only Raider to connect from 3-point range. He was three for eight. The rest of the team missed all 14 of its attempts.

Charlie Kleist had four first-half points and four rebounds. Kelley and Caleb Guden had a bucket apiece. Kelley had four rebounds. Guden had two boards.

Monarski had 13 points as Chi-Hi’s only scorer in double figures. He also had 11 rebounds.

Medford outrebounded the Cardinals 40-32 and committed just 12 turnovers against some solid defensive pressure applied throughout the game by Chi-Hi. Medford forced 21 turnovers.

Medford opens Great Northern Conference play Friday at Lakeland before hosting Merrill Tuesday for the home opener. Both games tip at 7:15 p.m.