Baumgartner shares GNC’s top honor; Sullivan, Hraby rewarded too

ALL-GNC BOYS BASKETBALL

The best season the Great Northern Conference has had in boys basketball in some time was punctuated by some fine talent on its post-season awards list, three teams advancing to WIAA sectional play and, very nearly, a Division 2 state qualifier.

The Medford Raiders were that sectional finalist and wound up with three award winners in the 2021-22 All-GNC vote. Senior Joey Sullivan and junior Logan Baumgartner were two of the four unanimous picks for the first team and sophomore guard Tanner Hraby shot his way onto the honorable mention list with a big second half to the season.

Baumgartner’s play allowed him to share this year’s GNC Player of the Year award with Northland Pines junior Nolan Lurvey, marking the third straight year that award has gone to a Raider. Peyton Kuhn won it the last two years.

The Baumgartner/Sullivan/Hraby trio led Medford to a 21-7 season that included a 9-3 record and a second-place tie with Northland Pines in the conference, the program’s second consecutive WIAA Division 2 regional championship under head coach Ryan Brown and the program’s first appearance in a WIAA sectional final since the end of the 1982-83 season, which it lost 56-47 to 27-1 La Crosse Central in a game that went down to the last minute.

Mosinee won the conference with an 11-1 league mark and went 22-3 overall. The second-seeded Indians, unfortunate- ly, were upset 64-60 by seventh-seeded Merrill in a Division 2 regional semifinal, but they wound up with four players earning post-season awards, led by unanimous first-team junior forward Davin Stoffel, and first-year head coach Matt Lindsey was named the GNC’s co-Coach of the Year along with Terry Klemett of Northland Pines.

Klemett heads a rising program that will enter next year as a favorite to win the GNC title with what projects to be an experienced, senior-dominated squad and ended this year playing in its first sectional semifinal in school history. The Eagles also claimed the other co-Player of the Year in junior point guard Nolan Lurvey.

The final first-teamer is Rhinelander senior guard Jacksen Smith. While the Hodags had an up-and-down year at 6-6 in league play and 13-14 overall, they took advantage of Mosinee’s playoff loss to make their first run to the sectional semifi nal round since 2014. Medford finally eliminated Rhinelander 56-29 in Thursday’s semifinal game played in Antigo.

Stoffel led the league in rebounding by averaging 10.5 boards in 12 league games and he ranked second in scoring at 16.7 points per game. Smith was third in the league in scoring at 16.6 points per game. Lurvey ranked sixth in scoring at 15.0 points per game, was second in assists at 4.7 per contest, sixth in rebounding (5.7) and tied for third at 2.2 3-point shots made per game. He shot 51.1% from the field to rank fifth.

The three Raiders

Baumgartner, a 6-4 junior, led the GNC in scoring by averaging 21.4 points per game and 3.7 3-pointers per game in 12 league contests. He was the league’s fifth-leading rebounder by pulling down 6.4 boards per GNC outing, he ranked second in steals at 2.7 per game and he was fifth in assists by averaging 2.8 per game.

His free throw percentage (76.1%, 35 of 46) ranked third behind Ryan Muench (92.9%, 26 of 28) and Griffin Steimke (84.4%, 27 of 32) of Northland Pines. He shot a solid 46.8% from the field in league play, making 89 of 190 shots overall. He was 44 of 110 from 3-point range (40%).

Overall in 28 games, Baumgartner’s averages weren’t much different at 21.4 points, 7.4 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 2.1 steals per game.

With the ability to score from the post to the 3-point line and anywhere in between, Baumgartner is already up to 1,200 points for his career with Medford and, barring something unforeseen, should break Kuhn’s school scoring record of 1,464 points fairly early next sea- son.

An honorable mention choice as a freshman and a second-team pick last year, Baumgartner’s year was high- lighted by a 42-point outing in a 78-45 win over Lakeland on Jan. 21 that included a school-record 10 3-pointers on 17 attempts. He had 28 points, six rebounds, three steals and two assists in a big 82-57 win at Northland Pines on Feb. 11 and 34 points and eight rebounds in a 76-64 home loss to Pines on Jan. 22. He also had 26 points, six rebounds and six assists in an 80-37 win at Tomahawk on Feb. 4.

Baumgartner seemed to shine his brightest against some of the toughest competition Medford faced. He poured in 36 points and had 13 rebounds in an 88-60 win over Merrill on Dec 7. At the Sheboygan North tournament Dec. 29-30, he had 28 points and six rebounds in an 80-64 loss to Oshkosh North and a 30-point, 10-rebound double-double in a 79-63 win over Plymouth. He totaled 29 points while hitting six of 11 3s and added seven rebounds and three assists in a 74-68 loss at La Crosse Central on Jan. 15. Baumgartner had 28 points and eight rebounds in an 83-72 win at D.C. Everest on Feb. 22, scored 24 points in the 68-66 regional final win at Fox Valley Lutheran and hit five 3s while scoring 19 points and grabbing eight rebounds in Saturday’s sectional final loss.

Sullivan’s season was just as big for Medford. The athletic and ultra-competitive 5-9 guard ranked fourth in the GNC at 15.5 points per game, led the league at 3.3 steals per contest, ranked third in assists at 3.7 per game and tied for eighth in rebounding at 5.2 per outing.

Overall in 28 games, he finished at 16.5 points, 5.4 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 2.57 steals per game.

Called a “one-man press break” by Brown, Sullivan’s ball-handling ability was huge for the Raiders, along with his abilities to drive, dish, hit pull-up jumpers and the occasional 3, defend and rebound. His 15-foot buzzer beater that won the Fox Valley Lutheran regional final game will be remembered for years to come. His leadership certainly will be hard to replace next year.

Sullivan immediately showed his game was at a new level when he scored 24 points and had eight rebounds in the season-opening 54-36 win at Chippewa Falls on Nov. 30 and had 19 points and nine rebounds three days later in the GNC opener at Lakeland, a game Medford won 56-39. His GNC highlights included 23 points, 12 rebounds and three steals in a 62-39 win over Rhinelander on Feb. 8; 20 points, eight assists, seven rebounds and two steals in the win at Pines; 16 points and nine rebounds in a 52-40 loss at Mosinee on Jan. 11 and 14 points, six rebounds, six assists, six steals and two blocked shots in the Jan. 21 win over Lakeland.

He also stepped up in non-conference play. He had 23 points, six steals and five rebounds against Merrill. He poured in 27 points and added five rebounds and four assists against Plymouth. He had 26 points, nine rebounds and four assists in a 72-63 win over New Richmond on Jan. 25, a 10-point, 11-assist double-double at D.C. Everest and hit eight of 12 shots while scoring 25 points in the regional final win at Fox Valley Lutheran.

Hraby’s emergence as the the team’s third-leading scorer was big, particularly during Medford’s 13-2 run to close out the season. He wound up ninth in the GNC rankings in scoring at 14.8 points per game, second with 2.8 3-pointers made per game and tied for sixth at 1.8 steals per outing.

Overall, Hraby scored 13.5 points per game and averaged 2.3 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 1.4 steals in 28 games played.

Hraby had two big non-conference games early in the year. He hit five of six 3s while scoring 22 in an 80-20 win over Altoona and hit six of 12 3s while scoring 20 against Oshkosh North.

His big breakthrough came Feb. 3 in Antigo when he sank eight of 12 3s and scored 34 points in an 81-41 win over the Red Robins. He followed that up with 18 points at Tomahawk the next night and had 25 points, three rebounds, three assists and two steals in the Feb. 11 win at Northland Pines.

He led Medford with 20 points and had three rebounds and three steals when the Raiders handed Mosinee its only GNC loss, a 66-55 defeat, on Feb. 18. He led the Raiders with 29 points while hitting seven of 11 3s at D.C. Everest.

While Baumgartner led Medford with a school-record 106 made 3-pointers during the year, Hraby wasn’t too far behind him with 77 on 194 attempts (44.8%).

Medford’s Steve Hraby receives his sectional runner-up medal from Eau Claire North athletic director Mike Pernsteiner while the reality of Saturday’s WIAA Division 2 sectional final loss sinks in for Raiders (l. to r.) Anakin Stokes, Vincent Seidel, Brigham Kelley, Zach Rudolph, Sam Blair and Charlie Kleist.MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS

Medford’s student section makes some noise during the second half of Saturday’s sectional final basketball game at Eau Claire North.MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS

Joey Sullivan First Team

Tanner Hraby Hon. Mention