Loggers, Tigers pull away from Redmen in second halves

RIB LAKE BOYS BASKETBALL

The third time was not the charm for the Rib Lake Redmen, who dropped their third game of the season to the Phillips Loggers 75-49 to close out the regular season.

In a game added to the schedule this week as both teams had first-round byes in the WIAA tournament and hadn’t played their full allotment of games, the Redmen were right with their Marawood North rivals for the first 21 minutes. Then, the North’s co-Player of the Year Taber Fawley went on a personal ninepoint run to help the Loggers open up a 14-point lead and Nathan Belan became Fawley’s sidekick, knocking down three second-half 3-pointers and scoring 13 of his 18 points in the half.

The Loggers’ outside shooting prowess hurt, but they also got inside at will in the second half to pull away and improve to 13-8 overall. The Redmen closed the regular season at 6-13. Two weeks earlier, the Redmen nearly upset Phillips but fell 58-53 on their home floor. The Loggers won the first matchup 68-35 in Phillips on Dec. 18.

The two teams will now go their separate ways. Rib Lake is a three-seed in its WIAA Division 5 regional bracket and visit second-seeded Prentice in a semifi nal matchup Friday at 7 p.m. that will also be a third game of the season between conference rivals. They split the first two with Prentice winning 47-41 in Rib Lake on Dec. 15 and the Redmen spoiling a home for the Buccaneers 67-57 on Jan. 26.

Friday’s winner will advance to a Saturday regional final likely to be hosted by top-seeded Newman Catholic. The Cardinals (13-7) host fourth-seeded Wisconsin Valley Lutheran (8-6) Friday.

Phillips, meanwhile is a two-seed in its WIAA Division 4 regional bracket and will host third-seeded Flambeau on Friday.

Rib Lake found early trouble Tuesday when senior forward Ryan Patrick got two quick fouls in the first 2:40 and the Loggers jumped out to a 19-8 lead. Patrick returned to the floor at the 10:08 mark and shortly after that, got an offensive putback to give Rib Lake’s offense a spark. Ryan Buehler’s 3-pointer, a Patrick steal and score and, moments later, bonus free throws by Patrick cut the Loggers’ lead to 21-17.

After Phillips surged ahead 25-17, Tanner Vlach hit a 3-point shot from the top of the key and Patrick was fouled while battling for rebounding position. He made the bonus free throws to cap a rare five-point possession and make it a 25-22 game with 1:06 left. But the Loggers got a 3-pointer from Cameron Johnson with 46 seconds left and a dagger from Fawley from the left corner at the buzzer to make it 31-22.

Rib Lake dented Phillips’ zone defense in the first minute of the second half with a free-throw line jumper from Vlach and a baseline floater from Logan Blomberg to pull within 31-26. Patrick capped a press break with a layup to make it 33-28 and Vlach hit another 15-foot jumper to make it 35-30.

Blomberg, who had guarded Fawley for the most part, picked up his third foul at the 14:54 mark and, after that, the senior went on his nine-point run to make it 44-30. Belan hit a 3 and Fawley scored again to make it 49-30.

A great fake by Blomberg buckled Belan’s ankles and gave him a highlightreel 3-pointer, but Belan came right back with a right-corner 3 of his own, plus he scored off a Rib Lake turnover to push the lead to 21 for the first time. Fawley added a three-point play at the 9:37 mark to make it 57-33 and the lead remained in the 20-plus range the rest of the way.

Blomberg, after a one-game absence, scored 15 second-half points and led Rib Lake with 18. Vlach scored 12 and Patrick hit double digits with 10. Buehler finished with three and Michael Borchardt, Jordan Yanko and Trey Klemann had a bucket apiece. Rib Lake lost one of its defensive stoppers, senior guard Brock Thiede, to injury late in the first half.

Fawley finished with 27 points, Belan had 18 and Jordan Drexler added 10.

Stratford 80, Rib Lake 54

For the second straight game, Borchardt got off to a torrid offensive start Thursday to keep Rib Lake afloat early, but eventually Stratford’s depth, size and offensive precision was too much for Redmen in an 80-54 Marawood crossover loss.

Borchardt lit up the Tigers for 17 firsthalf points. He hit two 3-pointers to reach the 12-point mark just 5:20 into the game to help the Redmen take an 18-12 lead. After two Camden Daul buckets for Stratford, Thiede assisted on a Buehler basket to give Rib Lake a 20-16 edge and Borchardt buried another 3 from the top of the key to beat a quick attempt at a zone defense by the Tigers to make it 23-18 at the 8:30 mark of the half.

But that’s where the Redmen went cold and Stratford grabbed control. Jake Skroch scored on an offensive putback, Zack Seitz got a three-point play off a rebound and Cody Miller scored off a nice cut to the hoop to give the Tigers their first lead at 24-23.

The Tigers stretched the lead to 32-23 before Borchardt made two free throws with 3:40 left. That was the last time Rib Lake scored in the half as Stratford closed things out with a Skroch bucket and a late 3-pointer by Caden Bruesiwitz to take a 37-25 halftime lead.

Thiede’s floater in the opening minutes got Rib Lake within 39-27, but the Redmen soon lost contact with the Tigers, who opened up a 20-point lead by the 11-minute mark and got that lead as high as 30 in the late going.

The Tigers shot an impressive 33 of 52 overall from the field (63.5%), including seven of 17 from 3-point range. They weren’t quite as sharp at the free throw line at seven of 14 but that didn’t matter much in this one.

Skroch led four Tigers in double figures with 15 points on seven-of-nine shooting. Bruesiwitz scored 14 points while sinking four of six 3-pointers. Seitz hit six of seven shots and scored 12 points. Miller had 11 points, five rebounds and three assists and Max Vanderhoof had six points and eight assists. Stratford improved to 8-7 in Marawood games and 13-7 overall with the win.

Borchardt finished with 22 points for the Redmen, who were 4-11 in Marawood games and came up one game shy of getting their full 16-game league scheduled completed. The sophomore, who scored 24 points Feb. 8 at Abbotsford, was eight of 15 from the field, including three of five from deep and three of four from the line. Patrick had a big second half with 14 points and finished with an 18-point, 10-rebound double-double. He hit seven of 10 shots from the field and four of five from the line and also blocked three shots.

Thiede had a solid night with seven points, three rebounds and two assists. Klemann had a three-point play in the second half, while Buehler, Vlach and Andrew Wudi had a basket apiece.

Borchardt added four rebounds, while Vlach added three. Wudi had a team-high three assists, while Vlach and Patrick added two each. Rib Lake wasn’t bad from the field either, making 22 of 49 shots (44.9%). The Redmen turned the ball over 19 times compared to only five for Stratford. The Redmen made eight of 11 free throws.