GOING OUT AS WINNERS

Pandemic ends remarkable year at 22-4

Though they didn’t know it at the time, the Rib Lake Redmen ended their outstanding 2019-20 boys basketball season Thursday night as winners.

Except for a couple of early minutes, the Redmen controlled their fourth straight post-season game virtually from start to finish and defeated Pittsville 61-45 in a WIAA Division 5 sectional semifinal played at D.C. Everest.

Under normal circumstances, the win would’ve sent the 22-4 Redmen to Saturday’s sectional final in Pulaski against 19-7 Wabeno-Laona with a berth in the state tournament at stake.

But a half-hour before Thursday’s tip off, it was announced the Kohl Center in Madison would no longer be available for the boys state tournament. A couple hours after Thursday’s win, the WIAA canceled the remainder of the boys and girls basketball tournaments due to growing concern about the spread of the coronavirus.

The hours leading up to Thursday’s sectional semifinals were stressful for participating teams. That morning, the WIAA announced strict guidelines limiting attendance to the games to essential workers, limited media and 88 ticketed fans per teams.

“As soon as I got that news, we have a group chat and I texted the guys and told them, ‘you have to put all this aside, don’t stress about it. You let the rest work itself out and focus on the game,’” Rib Lake head coach Carrie Ewan said.

The players said they were relieved to get on the court and just play the game.

“It’s nice because when you get on the court, you don’t think about anything else,” Levi Ewan said. “You just think about what’s happening around you.”

“It was hard,” Devyn Vlach said. “That was all that was going through our mind but Carrie texted us in the middle of the day and said whatever happens with the corona stuff, all the fans, just keep focusing on the game and don’t let it affect how you play.”

“It was definitely pretty stressful when you’re hearing about that, but we had a game to play so we had to refocus and just get the job done,” Nick Gerstberger said. “Once we get in the locker room, I’m focused in on the game.”

Rib Lake, the third seed on its side of the sectional bracket, certainly got the job done against the fourth-seeded Panthers, who finished 19-7.

The Redmen surgically dissected Pittsville’s 2-3 zone in the first half, got Pittsville’s ball handlers to make some mistakes, limited the touches for the Panthers’ Division 5 All-State senior Matthew Kissner and clearly looked like the better team while building a 36-22 halftime lead.

Ryan Patrick scored three of Rib Lake’s first five points, with his field goal coming off a Steven Petkau steal. Levi Ewan’s steal and ensuing assist to Petkau put the Redmen ahead 7-5 and they never trailed again. Petkau tipped in a missed shot and Ewan and Vlach both sank 3-pointers to open up a quick 15-5 lead.

“I was very happy with the way we attacked that zone, because we’ve struggled against zones for most of the season,” Carrie Ewan said. “That was all we worked on the last few nights, knowing that was probably what we were going to see.”

“We were just trying to work it inside at first, hit the kickouts if we had them and break it down that way,” Gerstberger said of the offensive success.

“I think patience is key too because with a 2-3, it’s easy to get a quick 3-pointer and actually help the defense,” Levi Ewan said. “That’s what we were doing earlier in the year.”

Ewan got another steal in the backcourt and zipped the ball to Petkau for a bucket that made it 17-7 before Pittsville made a mini-run to close within 17-12. Rib Lake answered with an 8-2 surge, capped by a Vlach 3-pointer pushed the lead to 25-14. Jordan Denniston sank a couple of 3s to pull the Panthers within 27-20, but Vlach and Petkau knocked down 3s of their own to push Rib Lake’s lead to 33-20.

A Kissner bucket made it 33-22. Rib Lake had possession with over a minute to go in the half and decided to pull the ball out and play for one shot. Although Pittsville finally pressured the ball in the final seconds, the move worked to perfection when Ewan beat it by drilling a long 3-pointer at the buzzer to give the Redmen their largest lead of the half.

“They were really cheating up,” he said. “I stepped back because I thought I was going to get a 3 and I almost fell. I knew I had to shoot it. It felt good coming off. I knew it looked good right away.”

“That was such a momentum swing going into the locker room,” Carrie Ewan said. “I was happy with an 11-point lead. I was going to take that. I thought standing out there and waiting to take the last-second shot was worth a try and he nailed it. A 14-point lead at halftime, we were happy with that.”

Pittsville changed to a 1-2-2 look with its zone to start the second half, but again, Rib Lake beat it with Gerstberger scoring in the post and Ewan sinking a 3-pointer to stretch the lead to 41-24. Though Rib Lake’s scoring pace slowed in the half, the Redmen led comfortably through its first 10 minutes, getting a couple more buckets from Gerstberger and free throws from Ewan to maintain a 48-31 lead at the 11-minute mark.

That’s when the Redmen hit a nearly six-minute scoring drought and things briefly got interesting.

Kissner scored inside and Denniston hit another triple to bring the Panthers within 48-36 with 9:08 to play. Noah Calverley had a chance for a three-point play at the 7:51 mark. He missed the free throw but the lead was down to 10. Kissner grabbed an offensive rebound and put it in and slowly but surely, Pittsville had the lead down to 48-40 with 6:45 still to play.

The Panthers got a stop and had a chance to draw even closer, but Gerstberger grabbed the rebound off a Kissner miss and the ball found its way to Vlach, who calmly knocked down a left-wing 3-pointer with 5:34 left that pushed the lead back to double digits and noticeably relaxed the Redmen, who went on an 11-0 run that iced it. Petkau tipped in a Vlach miss, Vlach got a transition layup off an Ewan assist and Gerstberger and Ewan made bonus free throws for a 59-40 lead with 3:26 left.

“I was kinda feeling it,” Vlach said of his clutch 3. “I knew Carrie was maybe going to be hesitant about taking a quick shot. But we got it done.”

“At that point everything was lifted off our shoulders,” Levi Ewan said. “He started shooting well at the right time for us.”

“Devyn’s hit a few of those for us,” Gerstberger said.

“They made a run on us,” Carrie Ewan said. “We had a couple of miscues and we go down the court and (Vlach) answers. It was a great feeling.”

Ewan finished a stellar prep hoops career with a fine all-around outing. He scored 15 points while making four of eight shots from the field, including three of six 3s. He dished out six assists and had four steals and three rebounds.

Vlach hit five of 11 shots, including four of nine 3s, and scored 14 points. He added three rebounds, three assists and two steals. Petkau hit five of 10 shots and scored 11 points to go with five assists, three steals, three rebounds and two blocked shots.

To cap things off for Rib Lake’s four main seniors, Gerstberger led Rib Lake with 18 points while making six of 10 shots, grabbed seven rebounds, dished out two assists and played key role in limiting the damage done by the 6-4 Kissner. Gerstberger had the main assignment of guarding him in Rib Lake’s man-to-man defense and help wasn’t far away in most cases when Kissner got his hands on the ball. In fact, Pittsville resorted early to shooting more from the outside. The Panthers were just seven of 27 from 3-point range, including a handful of airballs. They were 12 of 17 inside the arc.

“I just had to play like I can,” Gerstberger said. “Get halfway around him. If he gets it, stay straight up, stay out of foul trouble. Just play defense like I know how. We were supposed to go up and pressure their guards so maybe that deterred them a little bit. They couldn’t see him that well.”

Kissner did wind up with a game-high 25 points, but he was limited to just 11 shots from the field. He made eight, including three of seven 3-pointers. Denniston was four of 12 from 3-point range and scored 12 points.

Patrick added three points and five rebounds for the Redmen, who, unfortunately, will never know where their postseason run might’ve taken them.