MEDFORD BOYS BASKETBALL - Raiders spring an upset on GNC-leading Mosinee

MEDFORD BOYS BASKETBALL

The Medford Raiders finally had that basketball game where everything clicked on Friday, and it couldn’t have come at a better time.

The Raiders took down Great Northern Conference leader Mosinee 73-70 at Raider Hall, hanging around all game long and then snatching the win away from the Indians by scoring the game’s last seven points. Four days after a 66-43 nonconference home loss to Menomonie, the Raiders were celebrating a win few saw coming and realizing they suddenly were only a game behind Mosinee and Rhinelander in the GNC standings with five league games to play.

Tanner Hraby scored 28 points and hit clutch shots late, but confident offensive and defensive contributions from everyone who took the floor was huge in beating a team that was 14-1 and averaging 85 points per game coming in.

“It’s Mosinee, so their focus was there,” Medford head coach Ryan Brown said after the win. “I didn’t have to say much before the game. But I thought we had three great days of practice after Monday. On Monday we didn’t feel like we played our best, thought we turned it over too much. We thought we didn’t stick to the blueprint we’ve talked about that we need to follow to win, especially with some players out of the lineup.

“I think tonight though, as the game went on, guys just kept believing and seeing that we could stay there and I think that built momentum for us and put pressure on (Mosinee) and we were able to make some big plays down the stretch.”

“I think obviously there’s a little doubt with them being the best team in the conference thus far and they’re kind of whupping up on everybody,” said senior Nick Steliga, who had a huge game with 16 points. “But this last week, we had three really good, solid, intense practices, so I think we definitely believed in ourselves that we could compete with them, as long as we played well.”

The winning formula Friday had three key ingredients. It started with patience on offense that led to good shots being taken and made at a 53% clip from the field, plus the Raiders made 14 of 19 free throws in a game where plenty of fouls –– 43 to be exact –– were called. Defensively, Medford bent as Mosinee shot 48% as well and put four players in double figures, led by 23 points from its 6-5 senior Landen Thomer. But the Raiders didn’t break, digging in when they had to late.

The third key element was that Medford got those contributions from everybody, something it needed being without the injured Charlie Gierl and Brayden Balciar and battling foul trouble throughout the game.

“It was huge,” said senior Conner Klingbeil, who was three for three on 3-point shots and scored 15 key points. “Everyone just chipped in. Everyone played great. Just amazing.”

Hraby, who continues to quietly fight through an ankle injury of his own, hit two 3s for Medford’s first six points, but the team’s top offensive weapon only scored one more basket in a first-half that ended with the Raiders being right on Mosinee’s heels, trailing 42-36.

Hayden Koester scored all four of his points early to forge a 10-9 lead. Klingbeil came off the bench and immediately scored eight points, including two 3s to keep Medford within 26-22. Steliga got into a groove in the latter stages of the half and Owen Stockwell and Carson Carbaugh hit bonus free throws late as well to keep it close, even though Mosinee turned six Raider turnovers in the half into 13 points, including a Thomer breakaway dunk.

“We just really need that,” Steliga said. “Tanner is a really good scorer, but other teams always figure that out and he’s always getting guarded really hard. The more we can spread it out and score collectively, the better off we are.”

“Nick was shooting it with confidence,” Brown said. “Then you can’t say enough about Owen Stockwell. He just battled, going for boards and defensively getting in there and scrapping with guys, all night long. Carson Carbaugh, Logan Gubser. Everybody played their role tonight. Hayden Koester, as long as he’s just a little more patient, but he was making some of those passes we need.

“Then at the end, we were just being solid with the ball and taking care of it,” Brown added. “We know Mosinee is athletic and likes to take a lot of chances, but guys were solid. I just hope that we can take this and run with it, because that’s what it’s going to take to win against good teams.”

A 3 by Hraby to start the second half made it 42-39 and Steliga drilled one to make it 49-46 with 15:45 left. Carbaugh’s steal and subsequent free throw had Medford within 53-49 with 12:54 to play when Mosinee threatened to separate, going on a 7-1 spurt to go up 60-50 with 10 minutes left.

But Klingbeil knocked down his third 3, Steliga picked up a loose ball and floated one in, Hraby put down a reverse layup and then he swished a right-wing 3 to tie it at 60-60 with 7:49 left to get the crowd roaring.

Mosinee still kept coming up with answers. Hraby’s triple gave Medford a 66-65 lead, but it lasted just 15 seconds thanks to a three-point play by Keagen Jirschele with 5:03 left. Treve Stoffel’s putback of a Thomer miss made it 70-66 with 4:15 left, but Mosinee did not score again.

Stockwell made one of two free throws with 2:10 left. After an Indian turnover, Steliga got to the rim from the left side to get Medford within one.

“I got a lot of slips just underneath the basket,” Steliga said. “Mosinee is a switching team, so when one guy pops, there’s always a slip open, so that’s what I was looking for a lot and then just trying to rip when I had an open opportunity.”

The Indians turned the ball over again, resulting in Stockwell getting fouled. He hit the go-ahead free throws with 1:21 to go, making it 71-70. The teams traded missed free throws, but Medford was able to protect the ball and burn clock before Hraby sank two more free throws with 11.1 seconds to play. Mosinee’s last shot wound up being a long left-wing 3 from Aidan Shaughnessy that was off the mark at the buzzer.

“They’re scoring like 85 points a game,” Brown said. “We said let’s try to hold them to 60 but with the amount of possessions, amount of free throws they shot, I honestly thought, 70 points, that’s a pretty good defensive game against a team that scores as much as they do and the number of possessions that happened. We were locked in, we were early. Sometimes they just made shots, but our rotations and how hard we were working was the best I’ve seen this year.”

Stockwell finished with five points, all from the free throw line, and six rebounds. Carbaugh’s three points also came at the foul line. Sophomore Nick Krause also gave Medford four key first-half minutes and got a bucket and two assists.

Hraby had six rebounds, Koester continued to find cutting teammates and dished out eight assists, while Hraby had four and Stockwell had three.

Jirschele had 19 points for Mosinee, who fell to 6-1 in the GNC and into the first-place tie with Rhinelander. Stoffel and Cole Kowalski scored 10 points each. Mosinee was without an injured starter as well in Garrett Shupe.

Rhinelander (10-6) is Medford’s next opponent, tonight, Thursday, in what now is a pivotal 7:15 p.m. game at Raider Hall. The Raiders will be at Antigo Tuesday and host Northland Pines on Feb. 9.

“It was a great win for Medford basketball tonight,” Brown said. “It was a great win for all of the hard work they’ve put in. It was a team win. It wasn’t any individual. Everybody really played a major role.”

“After this game, I feel like we’re just going to play great,” Klingbeil said. “We have two huge players out and we need them, but we have to just do it with what we have left.”

West 56, Medford 45

Medford wasn’t able to keep the good vibes from Friday going on Tuesday, when it fell 56-45 in non-conference play at Wausau West to drop to 7-9 overall.

This game became all about execution in half-court offense as there were few transition chances for either team. The Warriors, who improved to 12-6, were just a bit better as they never trailed.

Brett Butalla led the Warriors with 20 points, Kargie Cooper had 13 and Bennett Matteson and Lucas Hager had eight each.

Medford got 21 points from Hraby and 12 from Steliga, but not much else for scoring from the rest of squad. Koester and Klingbeil hit one 3-pointer apiece. Stockwell made four of eight free throws and Krause got a first-half transition bucket off a Koester assist.

Steliga and Koester hit early 3s to keep Medford within 7-6 and five straight points from Hraby got the Raiders within 15-13. An 8-0 West run put the Warriors up by 10. They led 25-16 at halftime.

A three-point play by Marcus Macdonald and a 3-point shot by Butalla opened up a 31-18 lead for the home team and the Raiders couldn’t crack West’s man-to-man defense, with some occasional trapping, consistently from there. The second half turned into a bit of a free throw shooting contest. West was 13 of 23 in the half and 15 of 26 overall, while Medford was 12 of 18 in the second half and 15 of 22 overall.

Medford got within 49-40 on a Hraby 3 with 4:39 left, but couldn’t put any more dents into West’s lead the rest of the way.

Medford turned the basketball over 22 times, compared to West’s 14 turnovers. The teams’ 3-point success was similar as the Raiders were six of 23 and the Warriors were five of 19. The Warriors, though were 13 of 28 on two-point shots compared to Medford’s six of 17.

Raider Conner Klingbeil takes a swipe at the basketball as it’s held by Mosinee’s Landen Thomer during the first half of Friday’s 73-70 win over the Indians. MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS