MEDFORD BOYS BASKETBALL - Turnovers hurt in West loss; rebounds hurt in Mosinee defeat

MEDFORD BOYS BASKETBALL

There were more stretches of good basketball Tuesday by the Medford Raiders, but 21 turnovers negated those at times in a 66-52 defeat at Raider Hall to a solid, physical squad from Wausau West.

Medford’s turnovers led to 26 points for the Warriors and that was the obvious thing that stood out to head coach Ryan Brown after his team fell to 3-2 overall.

“When we played in spurts where we didn’t turn the ball over, we got good shots and we played right there. We were in the game,” Brown said. “But it comes down to stops and turnovers. There would be times where we’d get stops, but we’d come down and give them two. You don’t ever want to turn the ball over but this year a lot of our turnovers are leading to the other teams getting runouts for points.”

Seniors Charlie Gierl and Hayden Koester led Medford with 19 and 15 points, respectively. West countered with 18 points from senior guard Griffin Lange, 17 points from senior Bennett Matteson, 13 of which came in the second half including three 3-pointers, and 15 points from 6-4 post Niko Federici.

Seven early points from Gierl and a Koester 3 had Medford up 10-5 off the bat and Gierl’s second 3 of the half made it 137 before the Warriors grabbed the lead for good with an 11-2 run. Lange’s score off a steal opened up a 26-17 lead and Nick Krause’s 3 for Medford was answered by a Miles Waldvogel 3 that made it 29-21 before the Raiders ended the half with a Koester 3, a tough Koester shot in the post and his steal that led to a layup for Peyton Ried at the buzzer and a 31-28 deficit. Koester also scored in the post to start the second half to make it 31-30.

“We really tried to get Hayden in the post and use his length,” Brown said. “He made a couple of nice moves on Federici in the second half. He just has to learn when to pick his points as to when to kick it out or when to attack. We’d like to play through the post if it’s a slip or a curl or a post up. He’s probably our best back to the basket guy.”

That was the point in the game where the Warriors used outside shooting to break the game open. Matteson and Waldvogel hit 3s to open up a 39-30 lead. Krause and Jason Woller canned triples to keep Medford within 43-36, but Lange scored, got a steal and an assist to Brady Phelps and then Matteson drained two big 3s to make it 53-40. Koester hit his third triple of the night to get Medford within 10 with 6:58 to go, but West didn’t let the Raiders get any closer.

“I thought we came out with good intensity, confidence and patience on the offensive end,” Brown said. “They’re always going to be physical and West always plays really solid man-to-man defense. There were large spurts of the game where we did a good job where we screened bodies. Things that we can learn from are continue to cut hard, screen bodies, continue to set up our screens. That can get hard as a team kind of wears on you. You have to continue to be solid with the basketball.”

Krause hit two 3s to finish with six points for Medford. Woller scored five, Brayden Carlsen hit a late 3 and Ried and Will Wojcik scored two points apiece. Freshman Devin Dassow, who has been Medford’s primary ball handler, was out sick. Wojcik, another freshman playing in his second varsity game, helped fill that void and got his first varsity basket. Koester and Ried had three assists each. Ried also led Medford with four rebounds. West had a slight 21-18 rebounding edge. Both teams shot well from the field with Medford at 54.3% (19 of 35) and West at 53.8% (28 of 52).

“I thought we tried to battle on the boards,” Brown said. “We tried to battle defensively and be physical. I thought that was a step up from Friday. I think if we would’ve battled that hard on the boards Friday, the results maybe could’ve been different. Ultimately it’s about being solid with the basketball on the offensive end.”

Medford is right back at it against another Wisconsin Valley Conference foe tonight, Thursday, when it visits Merrill for a 7:15 p.m. tip.

Mosinee 68, Medford 57

The Raiders had a chance Friday to take their surprising 3-0 start to another level, but the visiting Mosinee Indians got Medford to turn the basketball over a little too much and, more importantly, won the majority of loose ball battles and turned those into key points in a 68-57 win.

Viewed as one of the top two preseason favorites in the GNC along with Rhinelander, the Indians won their league opener and improved to 5-0 at the time, though they lost to Freedom, the thirdranked team in Division 3, on Saturday.

Down 13 late in the first half, Medford clawed its way back into the game in the second half, taking a very brief 47-46 lead and then tying the game at 54-54, but the Indians sealed it with a 14-3 game-ending run.

“We learned that you need to do the things that we preach every day to win,” Brown said. “We said going in that we needed to not turn the ball over and we needed to rebound the basketball and those are two things we did not do well. And, I really felt we lost our discipline defensively. Maybe we were a little tired. It seemed like compared to where we’ve been for the first three games, we were a step late most of the night. We were kind of ball watching and not seeing our man. If we’re not disciplined in those things we’re not good enough to make up for that many errors.”

Mosinee’s offensive success in the early going has come from points in the paint and that was big again Friday. The Indians scored 46 of their points inside and turned 18 offensive rebounds into 14 secondchance points. Medford had one secondchance point, 22 points in the paint and was outrebounded 42-23.

Brayden Reinke had a 19-point, 11rebound double-double and was the biggest thorn in Medford’s side from a rebounding aspect. He had five offensive boards. Treve Stoffel led Mosinee with 24 points and added nine rebounds and four assists.

“(Reinke) goes for everything,” Brown said. “He’s all over the place. That really hurt us. The thing we talked about is that we had a lot of hands on basketballs and they just took it. That’s a huge difference in the game.”

Gierl had his third monster night to start the season on the home court with a game-high 26 points on 10-of-15 shooting from the field. He made six of nine 3-point attempts and had a team-high six rebounds.

“He’s getting his feet set. He’s playing solid. He’s doing a good job,” Brown said. “He’s getting a lot of contact and a lot of people on him. He’s just making the right reads each time until he finds his shot.”

Three of Gierl’s 3s helped Medford hang within 19-16 early, but a 13-3 surge by Mosinee opened up a 32-19 lead. Reinke’s two steals and scores capped that run. Hayden Koester converted a threepoint play and Gierl hit another 3 to help the Raiders get back within 36-28 at the half. Krause hit two 3s and Dassow fed Gierl backdoor for a layup that cut Mosinee’s lead to 38-36 with 14:30 left. While they haven’t relied on outside shooting this year, the Indians then got two big 3-point hits from Sebastian Andersen and Carson Balgord along with a Reinke hoop to go up 46-39. Gierl’s 3, a Dassow basket and a Ried 3-pointer gave the Raiders their 47-46 lead that lasted all of 35 seconds as Mosinee’s Bryson Cveykus scored off a turnover. Krause’s 3pointer later tied it with 6:26 to go, but that wound up being Medford’s last field goal until Gierl’s layup that ended the game. Stoffel scored twice for Mosinee. Balgord had a bucket with 2:04 left that made it 60-55. Gierl and Ried had close shots rim out and Balgord scored after Koester couldn’t quite get a steal to make it a seven-point game with 53 seconds left.

Koester scored 12 points for Medford, Krause added nine and Ried scored seven to go with four rebounds and four assists. Dassow had five assists and four rebounds to go with two points. Carlsen added a free throw.

“It’s one of those things where you’re disappointed and you know you lost some chances there,” Brown said. “But at the same time, we didn’t play very well and we’re there. Where we looked at ourselves at the start of the year and I don’t know if I thought we could play like that and be right there. We’re going to have our chances if we can keep improving and we can find a way to mesh our other guys in when they get back.”

Medford’s Will Wojcik passes out of the corner while hounded by Wausau West’s Jackson Riley during the second half of Tuesday’s 66-52 loss to the Warriors. MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS