Redmen too much for Newman in regional semis

WIAA DIV. 5 BOYS BASKETBALL

As would be expected from a heavy underdog, the Newman Catholic Cardinals tried a little bit of everything in Friday’s WIAA Division 5 boys basketball regional semifinal at Rib Lake.

The third-seeded Redmen, however, weren’t overly fazed and led from start to finish in a 73-50 win that sent them to Saturday’s regional final at Wild Rose.

The 11th-seeded Cardinals (5-19), coming off a 62-50 upset win over sixth-seeded Port Edwards in the first round, had some confidence knowing they had given Rib Lake a battle in the teams’ first meeting on Feb. 7, which the Redmen won 66-55. This time, the Cardinals hung around until the last eight minutes when the Redmen went on a closing 25-13 run.

“We knew they’d come out swinging,” senior Nick Gerstberger said after scoring a season-high 31 points in the win. “Once we got in our groove a little bit. We were fine.”

“In the first game we had three of our starters out (with foul trouble) over half the game,” Rib Lake head coach Carrie Ewan said. “We knew we needed at least a couple of guys to have big games tonight. Nick really came through. He was hot inside and outside offensively.”

Devyn Vlach scored 20 points and Ryan Patrick hit double figures with 10 as Rib Lake earned its 20th win of the season.

6-5 in 2015 and Wausaukee winning 10-0 in 2013.

Wabeno-Laona won the Northern Lakes Conference with a 13-1 league record, a game ahead of Florence, who the Rebels beat 69-50 in their regional final Saturday. The teams’ previous meetings were very close with the Rebels winning 71-68 in Laona Dec. 13 and the Bobcats winning 67-65 at home on Jan. 28.

The Rebels have won six of their last seven and feature Connor Taylor, a 6-1 sophomore, who pours in 18.1 points per game and adds 4.0 rebounds, 2.8 steals and 2.7 assists per game. Michael Stamper, a 6-2 junior, adds a shade under 14 points per game and 5.4 rebounds. Jesse Pakulski, a 6-2 senior, scores 10.5 points and pulls down 10.1 rebounds per game.

The Redmen got off to a fast start against Newman’s man-to-man defense as Gerstberger had 10 of the team’s points in a 16-6 game-opening run. The lead grew to 25-10 after Gerstberger scored again, Vlach drove to the rim and scored, Patrick hit two free throws and Gerstberger canned a 3-pointer.

But after a timeout with 4:20 to go and Rib Lake leading 27-12, the Cardinals pulled out their 1-3-1 zone, which bothered the Redmen a little bit in the first meeting. That slowed the Redmen down and the Cardinals battled their way back to within 28-19 by halftime.

The Redmen, however, busted the zone early in the second half, getting two left-corner 3-pointers from Vlach and five points from Gerstberger to go back up by double digits.

“Me and Nick hitting the 3s right off the bat, just getting right into it,” was how Vlach explained Rib Lake’s success in breaking down the zone. “It felt amazing to hit the two right in a row. That felt good.”

“At halftime we talked about just work it up top a little bit because their wings started sliding up and then we’d work it in the middle,” Gerstberger said. “That’s where you break them down.”

“We worked it inside a little bit more,” coach Ewan said. “Devyn hit a couple of 3s after we kicked it out. I think we just relaxed after that little bit, took the edge off and kinda went to town from there.”

Newman stayed in the game with 3-point shooting. Isaac Seidel hit four of them in the second half, three of which came in a run that got the Cardinals within 45-37. But Gerstberger’s 3-pointer ended that run and sparked the gameending surge where the Redmen’s chemistry was on display as they took apart Newman’s more aggressive man-to-man with solid cutting, passing and lobs that either resulted in easy baskets or trips to the free throw line. Rib Lake was 24 of 34 overall from the line, including 18 of 26 in the second half.

“That’s definitely where that comes in,” Gerstberger said. “Playing with each other for nine years we see the same things, we know what the other one’s thinking. It really helps.”

“After we had a decent lead we kinda dropped back into a little bit of a stalling offense,” coach Ewan said. “We were looking to score, but it really got loud in here, it got really crazy, the guys did a good job of keeping their heads on straight, handling the pressure and just kept focusing on the game and solved it.”

Levi Ewan had a quiet night with just one field and six total points but his ball handling was key against Newman’s late pressure. Steven Petkau also was held to just four points and Brock Thiede hit two late free throws.

Seidel added a first-half trey to finish with a game-high 15 points for Newman. Mason Prey hit a trio of 3s and added 14. Newman made eight 3s and only 11 twopoint shots.

“I think our defense really helped,” Vlach said. “We were getting in the gaps and not letting them penetrate at all.”

“I liked the way we switched on defense,” Carrie Ewan said. “We kinda kept them on their toes. We didn’t let them just stand outside and shoot all day long. They found that their shots weren’t easy to come by. They did make some tough, contested shots. We were in their face and they still put them in. This was a nice win for us tonight. I thought defensively we really stepped it up and played well.”