MEDFORD BOYS BASKETBALL - Confidence built as Raiders open with a win over Chippewa Falls

MEDFORD BOYS BASKETBALL

There will be tougher tests very soon and, obviously, in a first game there is plenty to improve.

But for a team that brings little varsity experience into the 2024-25 season, a 6357 win over Chippewa Falls Tuesday was a big shot in the arm for Medford’s boys basketball team.

The Raiders faced early deficits of 18-7, 23-11 and 25-13 but got back into it by halftime by winning the turnover battle and with better ball movement and sharing of the basketball. The deficit was cut to one before Medford settled for a 3229 halftime deficit. They got out of an early seven-point deficit in the second half and stayed composed down the stretch, taking the lead for good on Hayden Koester’s 3pointer that made it 57-56 with 2:30 left.

“In the beginning of the year we knew we were going to have to pick it up through the first couple weeks of practice,” said Koester, one of just two experienced seniors on the squad. “That’s really what we did. All the young guys came out and really wanted to work and it showed promise going into the year.”

The other experienced senior, Charlie Gierl, scored a career-high 24 points, most of which came early to help keep Medford within striking distance.

“It’s a huge win,” Gierl said. “Starting out 1-0 on the season when we lost a bunch of seniors last year and I’m coming off a concussion from last year and kinda missed a whole lot, it’s amazing. It feels so good to start 1-0. We still have a lot of building to do and still have a lot of work to do. But it was a great win tonight.”

“Sometimes you watch us in practice and you’re like ‘OK, that’s kind of what we want,’” Medford head coach Ryan Brown said. “Then sometimes you look at it and it’s not even close. But seeing them kind of transfer it into the game and make some big plays when we needed to down the stretch, that was exciting and fun to watch. It should give all them some confidence going forward that we have some potential if we work hard and keep trying to stick to our standards.”

Turnovers certainly were a big story. They’ve been the issue that’s plagued Medford most as it prepared for the season. But on Tuesday, the Raiders gave up the ball just 12 times and got 25 turnovers, several of which they turned into points on the offensive end.

Obviously when several seniors graduate, opportunities become available the following year. For Medford Tuesday, junior Nick Krause, sophomore Peyton Ried and freshman Devin Dassow were in the starting lineup and all contributed in big ways. Ried scored 12 points and hit a couple of big 3-point shots in the second half. Krause scored nine and hit four big bonus free throws in the final minute to close it out. Dassow scored five of his seven points in the second half.

“The growth of Peyton Ried and Nick Krause, both defensively and offensively, was big and they should only grow with confidence,” Brown said. “Devin Dassow too. To have him come as a freshman and play point guard and somehow give us seven points too. That was a great team win for us. It was really a big win that will hopefully help build our confidence.”

Jason Woller’s steal led to a three-point play for Gierl that gave Medford its first lead of the game at 41-39 witih 12:37 left. Ried followed with his second 3 of the half, which was answered by a 3 from Chi-Hi’s Collin Nichols, who led his team with 16 points. Gierl scored, then Krause got a steal and pushed the ball up to Koester, who missed the layup, but Gierl got the follow. Krause got another steal and, this time, Dassow cleaned up the miss at the rim to give Medford its biggest lead at 5042.

The Cardinals came back, taking a 5654 lead on Owen Munson’s 3-pointer with 3:50 to go. The Raiders missed a couple of shots, but also got stops on the defensive end. Koester’s go-ahead 3 came from the top of the key off a Krause screen. The Cardinals missed two free throws and Koester’s steal led to a Ried basket with 1:10 to play and Krause’s free throws sealed it from there.

“We just realized we had to share the ball more,” Koester said. “It’s not just one guy out there. It’s five guys working as one. That’s what we collectively agreed on as a team and that’s what we started doing in the second half.”

“Basically at halftime we kept saying we have to get to the boards, we have to keep moving the ball and keep forcing turnovers, which was huge in the game,” Gierl said. “We have a young group here, but they’ve really come together and played D. Tonight was great. They showed great effort on both ends.”

“The free throw shooting down the stretch, the staying composed and getting some stops were all big,” Brown said. “We got to the point where we were out of timeouts and were just able to get the ball and be strong with it. We said our struggle in summer basketball was turning the ball over. We said we needed to win the turnover and rebounding battles and that can right a lot of wrongs. Tonight that was big for us.”

Chippewa Falls won the overall rebounding battle 36-26, but both teams had 10 offensive boards. Medford got nine key second-chance points and had a 30-11 advantage in points off turnovers.

Gierl led the Raiders with eight total rebounds, plus he had five steals. Krause had a team-high six steals and three assists along with four rebounds. Dassow had three assists and four rebounds. Ried had four steals, three rebounds and two assists.

Medford hopes its new-found confidence will carry into Friday when the Raiders open Great Northern Conference play at Lakeland. The Raiders then get two major tests next week, hosting D.C. Everest Tuesday and GNC contender Mosinee on Dec. 13. Tip times are all 7:15 p.m.