Redmen survive and advance with late push at Turtle Lake
WIAA DIV. 5 BOYS BASKETBALL
With Rib Lake and Turtle Lake scoring at will through much of Tuesday’s WIAA Division 5 regional opener, the team that strung together some stops late was likely going to survive and advance.
Rib Lake was that team. Not only did a couple of steals and stops allow the Redmen to dig out of an eight-point hole, but they got key shots to grab the lead and knocked down big free throws to keep it –– two things that haven’t always been there for them in their up-and-down season –– and walked out of Turtle Lake High School with a wild 87-79 win and their season extended by at least another three days.
Senior Michael Borchardt made sure the season didn’t end, scoring a seasonhigh 19 points that included three second-half 3-pointers including a go-ahead triple with 3:45 to play. Another senior, Tanner Vlach, led Rib Lake in scoring with 20 points, 13 of which came in the second half including the tie-breaking hoop with less than two minutes to go. They were among five Redmen who scored in double figures in a victory that boosted Rib Lake to 13-12 for the season.
“I just thought the kids really stepped up and played well,” Rib Lake head coach Todd Henderson said. “They made plays when they needed to. They really did a good job of hitting their free throws down the stretch. That’s what really sealed that win. I think both teams ended up being 13 of 16 from the free throw line, so I think both of us, in a sense, overachieved on that, shooting better than we normally did during the season.
“It’s just fun in the playoffs when the other team gives you their best game and then your guys respond with their best game, finds a way to answer and gets the win.”
The win sends the ninth-seeded Redmen to a massive challenge on Friday as they visit top-seeded and top-ranked Mc-Donell Central (24-1) in a regional semifinal that tips at 7 p.m.
Eighth-seeded Turtle Lake dropped to 12-13 despite also putting five players in double figures, led by 20 points from junior forward Brady Peterson.
Rib Lake trailed 44-40 after a first half where neither defense got any kind of grip on the opponent and that trend carried into the second half. The Redmen took 47-46 and 50-49 leads following 3s by Vlach and Borchardt and then got a turnaround jumper in the lane from Andrew Wudi to fall and a corner triple from Dominic Quednow to go up 55-49 with 13:40 left.
The Redmen lost the lead at 59-58 when Daniel Maier got credit for a basket on a goaltending call and freshman Brandon Wagner knocked down a 3 to give the Lakers a 62-58 lead with 10:15 to play. After Quednow, who had a big game as well with 19 points, hit a jumper from the high post, Turtle Lake senior Drew Torgerson hit a 3 that put the Lakers up 67-62 with 8:22 to go.
Rib Lake freshman Talon Scheithauer hit a 3 out of a timeout to get the Redmen back within two, but then Turtle Lake threatened to take control. Peterson got an and-one inside but missed the free throw. Walter Thill, however, got the offensive rebound, which led to more free throws for Peterson and he knocked those two down. Thill’s free throws at the 7:04 mark gave the home team a 7365 lead. A Borchardt steal led to a pretty fast break that ended with Vlach scoring off a Jackson Blomberg assist, but Torgerson’s long pass ahead found Walker Korish for an easy one that made it 75-67.
Instead of folding, that’s when the Redmen dug in.
“It got down late in the second half, the guys were saying, ‘coach we need to press’ and I said, yeah, we do,’” Henderson said. “They did a good job there of responding and just causing some turnovers and then making the layups when they needed to off of that.”
Wudi scored and then the Redmen got a stop, leading to Borchardt’s 3-pointer. Borchardt then got a steal, got the ball to Quednow, who fed Vlach for a layup to make it 75-74 and force a Turtle Lake timeout with 4:56 left.
The Redmen got another stop and then crashed the offensive boards on their ensuing possession, finally getting Borchardt’s go-ahead 3 off Wudi’s rebound, making it 77-75 with 3:45 to go. Torgerson tied it with bonus free throws with 2:20 left, but Vlach put Rib Lake right back on top, driving right past the flat-footed Thill and banking in a short shot in the lane with 1:48 left. The Lakers turned it over with 1:20 to go. Quednow was fouled preventing a layup with 55.6 seconds left, but he hit both free throws to make it a two-possession game. Korish sank two bonus throws, but Vlach did the same with 43.7 seconds left. After a Torgerson miss, Borchardt swished two bonus throws with 33.3 seconds left and Quednow iced it with 15.7 seconds to go with two more free throws. Rib Lake came into the game shooting just 59% from the free throw line this year, but with the season on the line, the Redmen made eight straight.
Wudi and Scheithauer both scored 12 points for Rib Lake. Scheithauer had nine late in the first half to help keep Turtle Lake from creating some late separation. Rib Lake jumped ahead quickly 8-0, but Turtle Lake answered with eight straight and the team jockeyed back and forth from there for the rest of the half. Rib Lake, amazingly reached its season high for points while getting just five points from Blomberg, their leading scorer for the year, though he had six rebounds, three assists and two steals.
“I think overall, Turtle Lake really played a good game,” Henderson said. “The film that we saw on them they did not shoot as high of a percentage as they did against us. Their shots were falling and I think our guys just responded well to that. They did a good job shutting down Jackson Blomberg. He only had five points, but we had five other guys step up and score in double figures. That was just a nice team effort there that guys stepped up, especially Michael Borchardt. “(Borchardt) really had a good game,” Henderson said. “He’s had his struggles, but man he stepped up and hit some key 3s in the second half. It was his grandpa’s birthday, so I said what a birthday present for grandpa right there.”
Rib Lake shot 51.6% from the field (32 of 62), just the second time this season the Redmen have surpassed 50%. When they got the ball inside the Redmen finished, making 22 of 32 two-point shots. Rib Lake’s 1.3 points per possession was one of its most efficient totals of the season. Turtle Lake turned the ball over 17 times, leading to 20 Rib Lake points. Borchardt and Wudi had seven rebounds apiece. Borchardt had six steals and five assists. Wudi had five assists and two steals. Quednow had four rebounds and three assists.
Korish scored 18 points for Turtle Lake, Thorgerson had 13, Thill added 12 and Wagner chipped in with 10.
“We had to postpone the game Thursday against Prentice and bump it to Friday and then we didn’t have school Monday, so we couldn’t practice,” Henderson said. “It’s tough going into a playoff game where you don’t get a practice and don’t get a chance to prep for the team you’re going to play. We watched film, but it was a quick scouting report, going over stuff in the locker room and then it was hit the court and go.”
If Rib Lake can pull off the upset Friday, it would travel to fifth-seeded Clear Lake (12-11) or fourth-seeded Owen-Withee (20-5) in Saturday’s regional final at 7 p.m. Rib Lake won at Owen-Withee 66-61 way back on Dec. 5. The regional champion will play in a March 9 sectional semifinal at Chippewa Falls High School.
“I think the guys are kind of excited about playing McDonell and getting the opportunity to play one of the best teams in the state,” Henderson said. “You don’t always get the opportunity to do that where it’s a good way to measure yourself and see how good are we and what can we do.”
Prentice 62, Rib Lake 47
In a battle for second place in the Marawood North to end the regular season Friday, Rib Lake started hot but then cooled off and never got its offensive rhythm back in a 62-47 loss at Prentice.
Just as they did in the teams’ first meeting Jan. 9, the Buccaneers rode big games from seniors Ashton Makovsky and Layne Blomberg to the victory. Makovsky made 10 of 13 shots on his way to a 21-point outing Friday, while Blomberg scored seven straight points in the run that put Prentice ahead for good late in the first half and finished with a gamehigh 22 points. Makovsky and Blomberg had 19 and 16 points, respectively, in Prentice’s 58-54 win at Rib Lake.
Shooting –– and more specifically where the shots came from –– was one of the stories Friday. While Rib Lake outscored Prentice 18-6 from 3-point range by making 6 of 27 attempts, Prentice did some damage inside by making 20 of 31 shots at close range, compared to 13 of 32 for Rib Lake and the Buccaneers had a key advantage at the free throw line, making 10 of 17 compared to Rib Lake’s three of eight. Prentice was 23 of 40 on two-point shots and shot 43.9% overall (25 of 57). The Redmen finished 29.2% overall from the field (19 of 65).
It didn’t seem like that was how the game was going to go early on. Rib Lake jumped ahead 10-4 behind two Jackson Blomberg 3s and two buckets by Quednow, the second of which came off an offensive rebound by Wudi. Quednow had the assist when Blomberg scored off a curl cut to make it 12-6.
Prentice took a brief 13-12 lead, but that 7-0 run was stopped by a Scheithauer 3. Rib Lake broke a 17-17 tie with a driving score from Borchardt and then another Blomberg score off a curl.
But Layne Blomberg went on his personal 7-0 run with a hard drive to the rack, a 3-pointer with 2:19 left in the half and two free throws moments later to put the home team up 24-21. Aiden Hause’s putback with 50 seconds left gave Prentice a 26-21 halftime edge.
Borchardt scored in the post off a feed from Vlach to get the Redmen within 2623 to start the second half and he scored again to answer a Layne Blomberg basket to make it 28-25 but that was as close as the Redmen got in the second half.
Makovsky had a quiet first half with just four points, but the 6-3 center got warmed up with a 17-foot jumper, a reverse layup and a spin move in the lane on a six-point run that created a 34-25 lead. After a possible goaltending violation by the Bucs went unnoticed, Makovsky got the rebound on a missed free throw and put it in for an 11-point lead.
Rib Lake got within seven twice, the first being 36-29 on a Jackson Blomberg steal and score and 39-32 on a Scheithauer 3 with 11:10 to go, but by going just three for 15 from 3-point range in the half, they were unable to string together enough big shots to get any closer. Vlach had two of those second-half 3s.
Borchardt led Rib Lake with 14 points on six-of-14 shooting and grabbed three rebounds. Blomberg scored 12 points and had five steals and five boards. Vlach finished with nine points, 10 rebounds, three assists and two steals. Scheithauer’s two 3s gave him six points. He added two rebounds. Quednow chipped in with four points, five rebounds and two steals. Dalen Gebauer had a second-half bucket and four rebounds. Wudi had five rebounds and four assists.
Makovsky had 14 rebounds to complete a double-double for Prentice (13-11), who finished 7-9 in North play, a game ahead of 6-10 Rib Lake and Chequamegon. Evan Lord just missed a doubledouble with 10 points and nine rebounds.
