Patrick works himself into unanimous pick

ALL-MARAWOOD NORTH BOYS BASKETBALL

ALL-GNC BOYS BASKETBALL

Role players on last year’s state-caliber club, Ryan Patrick and Logan Blomberg were expected to take on much larger roles for this year’s Rib Lake boys basketball team.

They succeeded in those roles, becoming the team’s most valuable players and award winners in the vote for the 2020-21 All-Marawood North teams.

Patrick took a tremendous leap in his senior season and was a unanimous choice among the conference’s coaches for the All-North first team. His choice was a no-brainer as Patrick became a force in the lane, both offensively and defensively, and turned himself into a double-double machine.

Blomberg, a junior, was the team’s secondleading scorer and rebounder and made the All-North honorable mention list along with freshman guard Andrew Wudi.

After graduating their top four players from last year’s 22-4 squad that won the Marawood North a year ago and was one win shy of a WIAA Division 5 state berth when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the Redmen expected there would be a learning curve in 2020-21. Under third-year coaches Carrie Ewan and Todd Henderson, Rib Lake went 6-14 overall and 4-11 against Marawood foes in the regular season. The Redmen lost their only post-season matchup, falling 58-47 at North rival Prentice in the teams’ third meeting of the year. The teams had split their first two matchups with the road team winning each one.

Prentice went on to become the conference’s only WIAA regional champion.

Patrick was the one starter who returned for Rib Lake. Already a player who was ascending as a rebounder and defender late last year, Patrick continued to improve in those aspects and impressively picked up his scoring and shooting pace this year.

Patrick finished the year by averaging 12.4 points, 12.8 rebounds and 2.2 blocked shots per game. He shot 62% from the field to easily lead his team and the conference. His rebounding average ranked second in the North Division behind Abbotsford’s unanimous first-team pick Cade Faber (14.2). Patrick posted at least 12 scoring/ rebounding double-doubles this year, including 10 against Marawood Conference teams.

He had two of his best games in Rib Lake’s season sweep of Abbotsford. In game one on Jan. 12, a 66-52 win, Patrick made 13 of 15 field-goal attempts, including a 3-point make, to score 28 points and he pulled down 13 rebounds. He added two blocked shots and two steals. In the Feb. 8 rematch in Abbotsford, won by Rib Lake 69-58, Patrick was limited to 10 points on five-of-nine shooting, but he grabbed an amazing 24 rebounds, 17 of which came on the defensive end.

While the Redmen lost three times to Phillips during the regular season, he had big outings in two of those games. He had 14 points, 14 rebounds and five assists in a 58-53 near-upset on Feb. 2 in Rib Lake. He had 14 points, 16 rebounds and two blocks in a 68-35 loss at Phillips Dec. 18. He also played well against North champion Athens. In a 54-31 home loss on Dec. 22, Patrick had 14 points and 18 rebounds while making six of eight shots. He had 18 points, eight rebounds and two assists in the rematch Jan. 29, which the Blue Jays won 71-54.

Patrick had 23 points, 17 rebounds, four assists and made eight of 11 shots from the field in Rib Lake’s 67-57 win at Prentice on Jan. 26, which was the team’s most memorable win of the season. He had a 23-point, 13-rebound double-double where he made eight of 10 shots and seven of 12 free throws in a 76-51 home loss to Newman Catholic on Feb. 5.

Two non-conference opponents also couldn’t contain him. He had 12 points and 15 rebounds in the team’s second game of the season, a 49-42 loss to Tomahawk, and he posted a 17-point, 14-rebound double-double that included five steals and eight-of-10 shooting in a 53-43 win at Crandon on Jan. 19.

Patrick joins Faber and Co-Players of the Year Cooper Diedrich of Athens and Taber Fawley of Phillips as unanimous picks to the first team. Sophomore forward Aiden Janke of Athens filled the fifth and final spot on the squad.

Fawley led the conference by averaging 22.8 points per game and he grabbed 8.7 rebounds per outing. Diedrich averaged 19.8 points, 6.8 rebounds and 3.9 assists per game while leading Athens to its first Marawood championship in the sport since 1950. Athens co-head coaches Jeramie Penney and Aaron Ellenbecker, not surprisingly, were named the North’s Coaches of the Year.

A reserve who averaged 4.0 points and 2.0 rebounds a year ago, Blomberg emerged as a solid starter this season for the Redmen, averaging 11.1 points and 5.9 rebounds per game in 19 contests. He added 1.6 assists and 1.5 steals per game.

Blomberg led the team in 3-point makes with 29 and was one of its top free throw shooters at 61.2% (30 of 49).

He had two double-doubles in league play. He went off for a season-high 20 points and had 10 rebounds and two assists in the Feb. 8 win at Abbotsford and he had 11 points, 11 rebounds and two assists in the Feb. 2 loss to Phillips. He had 18 points in a 75-49 non-conference loss at Phillips in the regular-season finale Feb. 16.

Blomberg had 15 points, five rebounds and two key 3-pointers in the win at Prentice. He had 19 points, six rebounds, four assists and four steals in a 65-51 win at Chequamegon Dec. 28; 13 points, nine rebounds and two steals in a 65-22 nonconference win over Gilman on Jan. 4; 15 points, eight rebounds, five assists and three steals in the Crandon win and nine points and nine rebounds in a 68-30 loss to a good Auburndale squad on Jan. 22.

Wudi immediately stepped into a starting role as one of Rib Lake’s primary ball handlers and averaged 2.6 assists per game. He scored a modest 4.5 points and 2.1 rebounds per game and was a solid on-ball defender against opposing guards. He figures to be a key player in Rib Lake’s rotation for the next few years.

He scored 10 points while making four of nine shots, including two of five 3s in the loss to Auburndale. He had four rebounds in that game. He had seven points, five assists and three rebounds while making three of four shots in the Feb. 8 win at Abbotsford. He had a solid game against Newman as well with five points, four rebounds and four assists.

In non-conference play, Wudi scored a season-high 12 points and had six assists, four rebounds a blocked shot in the win over Gilman. He had eight points, five rebounds, five assists and four steals in the Dec. 8 loss to Tomahawk.

Logan Blomberg Hon. Mention

Andrew Wudi Hon. Mention