A 3-game lead with three more remaining

RIB LAKE BOYS BASKETBALL

Abbotsford had no answers for Levi Ewan in the first half and was overmatched in the second half Monday as the Rib Lake Redmen clinched at least a share of the Marawood North boys basketball championship Monday with a 70-44 win over the last-place Falcons.

Ewan won an entertaining first-half scoring duel with Abbotsford’s Cade Faber 24-17 and wound up scoring 30 points in the win. After sitting out the last 12:09 of the first half because he picked up two quick fouls, Nick Gerstberger scored 12 of his 18 points after halftime to ensure the Redmen would improve to 11-2 in conference play and 16-2 overall.

Rib Lake leads 8-5 Phillips and Athens by three games each with three league games to play.

With Gerstberger out and the team’s outside shooting off the mark for most of the opening half, Ewan took over. He made just one 3-point shot in the half. He did most of his damage by defenders off the dribble and finding creases before help arrived. He fin- ished the half by scoring 19 of Rib Lake’s last 21 points as the Redmen built a 38-26 halftime lead.

“We’re not going to settle back and play keep away,” head coach Carrie Ewan said. “If you’ve got the open shot (take it), that’s the way we’ve always played. Take it to them.”

Faber scored 17 points of his own in the first half for Abbotsford (1-13, 3-16). He banked in a 3-pointer from the right wing to tie the game at 12-12 just after Gerstberger went to the bench. Ewan answered with his lone 3-pointer of the half and Ryan Patrick sank two free throws after grabbing an offensive rebound to make it 17-12 with 11:10 left.

Ewan scored off a drive and jump stop and that started his 19-point run. Abbotsford countered with an inside score from 6-4 senior Reiley Schreiber and a coastto- coast score from Faber to pull within 19-16.

“Faber did a fantastic job tonight,” Carrie Ewan said. “He was on. It was fun to watch. He’s a fun player to watch, not fun to play against.”

That’s when Levi Ewan took over.

He hit a pull-up 15-foot jumper and took a defensive rebound all the way to the other end to push the lead to seven. Faber got a putback, but Ewan went coast to coast again and then scored and was fouled on a shot from the middle of the lane. The free throw made it 28-18 with 7:49 left.

Faber hit a two-point and then a 3-point shot, but Ewan scored twice more before Schreiber made a free throw. The only time Ewan didn’t score in the run, he assisted a pretty slam dunk by Steven Petkau that made it 34-24 with 3:40 left.

Faber got a steal and eventually ended that possession with an offensive putback, but Ewan finished the half with two bonus free throws and a bucket with 1:35 left. Rib Lake started the second half with a 9-2 run that included two buckets from Gerstberger, a left-corner triple from Devyn Vlach and a Petkau steal and score that made it 47-28. Vlach hit another 3 from the same spot to get the lead past 20 for the first time at 5230 and the Redmen gradually built on it the rest of the way.

Petkau added 10 points for Rib Lake, Vlach had six on his second-half 3s and Logan Blomberg, Brock Thiede and Patrick added two points apiece.

“The last two games it kinda went that way for Nick,” Carrie Ewan said of his early foul trouble. “I was just going to halftime thinking he gets to come back out in the second half now and we’ll be that much better. Steven definitely caused some havoc and I thought our rebounding was really good tonight. They didn’t get more than their one shot and that’s key. We have a tendency to sometimes let that get away from us.”

Faber finished with 25 points and Blake Draper had 10 for the Falcons.

The Senior Night festivities honored Levi Ewan, Petkau, Vlach, Gerstberger, Cory Hanson and Brazilian exchange student Paulo Miranda.

“It was a fun night being Senior Night,” Carrie Ewan said. “Getting to coach these guys all these years has been a lot of fun.”

Rib Lake gets it toughest challenge of the regular season tonight, Thursday, when it hosts 17-0 Stratford in a Marawood Conference crossover at 7:15 p.m. The Tigers lead the Marawood South and come in as the state’s second-ranked team in Division 4. The Redmen are ranked eighth in the wissports.net coaches poll in Division 5.

An upset win would clinch the outright North title for Rib Lake. Losses by Athens to Auburndale Thursday and by Phillips to Marathon Friday would also do it.

If not, Rib Lake still has two more chances to clinch when it hosts Athens on Feb. 21 and travels to Chequamegon for a rescheduled game on Feb. 24.

In non-conference play, Rib Lake visits Colby Tuesday at 7:15 p.m.

Rib Lake 66, Newman 55

Foul trouble slowed Rib Lake significantly in the first half of Friday’s Marawood Conference crossover, but the fouls went the other way in the second half, allowing the Redmen to earn a 66-55 win at Newman Catholic.

The Redmen made 30 of 43 free throws in the win, including 16 of 23 from Levi Ewan alone and 10 of 11 from Petkau.

Rib Lake led just 19-18 at the half after Gerstberger, Petkau and Patrick all picked up two early fouls.

“Our three bigs right away, Ryan, Steven and Nick all had two fouls,” Carrie Ewan said. “I got them all out of there and they sat over half of the first half. We had our backups in. Michael Borchardt had to step in and got some minutes. We attacked, but we were patient. We tried everything we could to get a foul on a drive. I just felt like we were getting beat up. They didn’t want to call much and let everybody play through it.

“I thought we were pretty fortunate to go in at halftime one point ahead with three starters on the bench for most of the first half,” she said.

Newman (3-10, 4-13) got three 3-point baskets from Isaac Seidel to keep it close, while Vlach and Petkau had seven points apiece for Rib Lake in the first half.

Levi Ewan got into a groove in the second half with two early free throws, two 3s and a two-point shot. He finished his 24-point night by making 13 of 16 free throws the rest of the way. Petkau was five for six from the free throw line in the half and Gerstberger was two for two.

Petkau finished with 20 points, Vlach scored 12, Patrick and Gerstberger scored four apiece and Thiede hit a key first-half bucket.

Seidel’s 17 points led Newman, while Mason Prey added 11.

“They finally hit one cold streak and we happened to get a few shots,” Carrie Ewan said. “It was more or less a free throw challenge. If it wasn’t for our free throws, we wouldn’t have won the game. We got put to the line 43 times and we did a nice job of making our free throws. That was probably the key to our win.”