WIAA BOYS BASKETBALL PAIRINGS - The Div. 2 La Crosse Central sectional

WIAA BOYS BASKETBALL PAIRINGS

The good news if you’re a fan of the Medford Raiders is this half of the sectional doesn’t have a clear favorite.

The bad news is Medford is 1-4 against the teams seeded among the top six in the half-bracket and 0-4 against teams on the other side of the sectional.

Wausau East got the top seed with a 16-6 overall record and a 83-58 win over two-seed Rhinelander on Jan. 3 helped. The Lumberjacks are 3-4 in their last seven games, including a home loss to then-winless Wisconsin Rapids, and are just 5-6 in the Wisconsin Valley Conference. Leading scorer Jesse Napgezek was down for a few weeks, which certainly was a reason for the recent slide. He averages nearly 22 points and six rebounds per game and is now back in the lineup. Jayden Garrett gives East 14 points and nearly seven assists per game.

Rhinelander (17-5, 9-2 GNC) has won six straight and eight of nine going into Thursday’s GNC championship game at Medford. The Hodags swept Mosinee twice in GNC play for their most significant wins of the season. They have lost to Medford and Antigo in league play.

From there, it’s all about the Big Rivers Conference, who owns seeds three through seven, except for Medford’s fifth seed. These teams don’t have eye-popping records, mainly because they’ve been beating each other up in conference play behind D-1 teams Eau Claire Memorial (13-0) and Hudson (10-3).

Three-seed River Falls (12-11, 6-7 BRC), who beat Medford 63-46 on Dec. 31, gets nearly 17 points a game from sharp-shooting guard Brody Graetz, who missed a stretch in late January and early February and has a big presence inside with Iowa football recruit Eli Johnson, who at 6-7, averages 10 points and about 7.5 rebounds per game. The Wildcats swept Rice Lake, including a comefrom-behind 59-57 overtime win Friday, split with New Richmond and lost twice to Menomonie. They lost 57-56 to La Crosse Central last week.

Four-seed Menononie (13-10, 6-7) had a good argument to get the three. The Mustangs are playing their best ball now as Medford found out last week in a 94-52 thumping. They’ve won six of eight and gave Onalaska a run Monday, falling 68-63. The Mustangs feature size and physicality inside with 6-5 senior Isaac Ellison and 6-7 sophomore Trevor Robert. They split with Rice Lake but got swept by New Richmond.

Six-seed New Richmond (11-12, 6-7 BRC) beat Menomonie on a buzzer-beating 3-pointer Feb. 14 to get the sweep. The Tigers beat Medford 54-44 on Dec. 30. Seven-seed Rice Lake (14-8, 6-7) will be out to prove it was mis-seeded and is led by 5-11 senior and UW-Stevens Point recruit Zach Orr and 6-3 junior Will Svendsen, who both average about 15 points. The Warriors started the season 8-0 before the schedule got a bit tougher.

Whoever gets to the sectional final is likely to get a tough challenge. One-seed Onalaska (17-7, 8-4 MVC), two-seed La Crosse Central (13-9, 7-4 MVC), three-seed West Salem (15-6, 9-1 Coulee) and even four-seed Mosinee (16-7, 8-3 GNC) are formidable squads.

It’s March Madness and anything can happen, but the odds are the lower half of the Hayward sectional will come down to the top four seeds.

At the top are Northern Lights Conference contenders Mellen (19-3, 15-2 NLC) and Bayfield (18-5, 14-3 NLC). Mellen would clinch the outright conference title with a win at Solon Springs tonight, Thursday. Bayfield is tied with D-4 Hurley for second place and with a win over Mercer tonight, will be ready to pounce on a title share if Mellen gets knocked off.

Mellen split the season series with Bayfield and Hurley. The Granite Diggers beat Birchwood, the fourseed in the upper half of the bracket, 79-52 for their most impressive non-conference win.

Bayfield was swept by Hurley this season. The Trollers lost 80-69 to Phillips to start the season and lost 78-77 to a 17-6 Grantsburg team on Dec. 27. They are led by the Northern Lights’ leading scorer Quintin Bresette, a 6-0 senior guard who pours in 27 points per game and averages nearly 10 assists. Bayfield has scored 80 or more points 11 times.

At the southern end of the bracket, many observers would place their bets on three-seed Owen-Withee (18-5, 11-3 ECC) being the team to beat.

The co-champions of the Eastern Cloverbelt Conference with Columbus Catholic, the Blackhawks return a handful of players from their sectional finalist team of a year ago. They just might have the right mix of athleticism, toughness, size and shooting to make a deep run. Plus, they have some big-game experience with several players being part of the school’s 8-player football state championship team this fall.

Owen-Withee stumbled early in the year against Abbotsford and Spencer, but has won 11 of 12, including a 64-50 win at Rib Lake on Jan. 27.

Rib Lake is the fourth seed (17-6, 12-3 North) and a team that is playing some of its best basketball of the season. The Redmen repeated as Marawood North champions with a lineup consisting primarily of juniors and freshmen. Jed Henderson, a 6-5 junior, has had a big season, averaging 16.7 points and 10.7 rebounds. Seth Borchardt averages 11.2 points and 5.5 assists. Talon Scheithauer averages 12.4 points.

The Redmen split their season series with sixth-seeded Prentice, swept Athens and also beat seven-seed Gilman.

Five-seed Flambeau (16-6, 11-4) sits in third place in the East Lakeland and has wins over Gilman and Drummond. Gilman (6-17, 2-12) played well this season against teams outside the Eastern Cloverbelt and has a chance to pull off a 10/7 upset at Drummond Tuesday.

In the top half of the bracket, Turtle Lake (17-4, 13-4) is the one-seed. The Lakers are in third place in the West Lakeland. Spring Valley (17-5, 11-2) is the two-seed and fell to second in the Dunn-St. Croix Conference Monday with a 55-39 loss to first-place Durand-Arkansaw.

WIAA Div. 2 sectional half-bracket

WIAA Div. 5 sectional half-bracket