RIB LAKE BOYS BASKETBALL - Redmen have no answers at Stanley; get key win over Edgar

RIB LAKE BOYS BASKETBALL

Jed Henderson scored a prep career high 21 points and grabbed 10 rebounds Tuesday night, but not much else went right for Rib Lake’s boys basketball team in a 72-51 loss at Stanley-Boyd.

The Orioles got their transition game going and also clicked in their half-court offense in the first half to build a 29-point first-half lead and cruise to the win. Their 6-7 sophomore Charlie Hoel had his way inside with 19 points, including a couple of dunks, leading three Orioles in double figures as they improved to 3-1.

Rib Lake dropped to 1-2 with the nonconference loss. Despite meeting Hoel as as 6-6 freshman Josiah Demske at times inside, Henderson thrived, scoring 14 of Rib Lake’s 22 first-half point. Seth Borchardt scored seven second-half points to hit double figures with 11 and he had seven assists. Freshman Lucas Cook scored his first six varsity points in the final minutes.

But after that, not much fell for anyone else in the loss.

Henderson scored the first basket of the game, then Stanley-Boyd got 3-pointers from Logan Gray and Brenner Myers as well as a Carter Isenberger hoop to jump ahead 8-2. Hoel scored 11 of Stanley-Boyd’s points in a 15-2 run that broke the game open at 25-6. His first dunk came off a Demske assist, making it 27-8 and Troy Haas followed with a 3 to push the lead past 20 and it never got below 20 the rest of the way.

Henderson scored twice to end the half, including a fadeaway shot off an offensive rebound at the buzzer that made it 47-22. The lead got as high as 32 in the second half before the Orioles went to the bench in the last 10 minutes. Isenberger finished with 13 points and Gray scored 10. The Orioles shot 54.3% in the first half, making 19 of 35 shots, including five fo 10 3s.

Rib Lake got four points from Brady Heiser, three from Talon Scheithauer and two apiece from Ethan Cook, Blake Henderson and Jeremy Wiitala.

The Redmen look to shake this one off as they return to Marawood Conference play to close out their pre-Christmas schedule. They’ll be at Marathon Friday for a Marawood crossover boys/girls doubleheader. The boys will start things off at 5:30 p.m., followed by the girls at about 7:15 p.m.

Rib Lake hosts Athens Tuesday and travels to Abbotsford on Dec. 20 for Marawood North matchups.

Rib Lake 60, Edgar 49

Nearly five years to the day since a Rib Lake team beat Edgar in Marawood Conference crossover play, the Redmen ended that streak Thursday with a 60-49 win over the visiting Wildcats to notch their first win of 2024-25.

Jed Henderson notched a 15-point, 13rebound double-double and served as a strong defensive presence in the lane, while Scheithauer scored 13 points and Borchardt added nine in a game Rib Lake nearly led wire-to-wire, only trailing 1-0 at the outset.

“Our big three all got in double figures and then we had some of the other guys step up, so that was nice,” Rib Lake head coach Todd Henderson said. “Sometimes we struggle with Edgar’s physicality, but I think the guys did a pretty good job of keeping their heads and playing under control.”

Foul trouble was a game story, especially from Edgar’s perspective. Rib Lake shot 32 free throws, making 20 while the Wildcats were just four for four and lost two starters, Gavin Mauer and Tucker Streit, who both fouled out in the second half.

Switching from man-to-man and their 1-3-1 zone, the Redmen limited Edgar 35.6% shooting from the field (21 of 59) and, in another of the game’s key areas, they outrebounded the Wildcats 38-27. The Redmen got 27 of those boards on the defensive end, limiting Edgar to just nine offensive boards.

Holding Edgar without a field goal for nearly eight minutes to start the game, Rib Lake jumped ahead 10-1. Playing its first game of the year following the school’s WIAA Division 7 football state championship win, Edgar finally started to find the range and got within 11-10, then Rib Lake closed the first half with an 18-5 surge to slowly but steadily create some separation.

Ethan Cook started the run, scoring off a Blake Henderson assist. Borchardt fed Jed Henderson in the post for a score, Jed Henderson hit two bonus free throws, Scheithauer added one, Jackson Schutt scored at the end of a press break and Scheithauer scored off a baseline inbound play to make it 22-12. Schutt sank two bonus throws and Borchardt went four for four from the line in the final minute to give Rib Lake a 28-16 cushion.

Jed Henderson’s putback to start the second half got the lead to 14 and from there Edgar could never put a serious dent in that lead. Slade Scheithauer and Schutt hit 3s and Jed Henderson scored in the post for a 50-34 lead with seven minutes left. Edgar’s Leyton Schuett scored 17 of his game-high 20 points in the second half, including a three-point play with 3:19 left that made it 54-46, but the Wildcats got no closer.

Blake Henderson had a solid second start with seven points, seven rebounds and a team-high four assists. Slade Scheithauer scored his first four varsity points while adding four rebounds and three assists and Schutt gave Rib Lake seven key points off the bench. Heiser also had a first-half bucket and Cook finished with three points and four rebounds.

The Redmen shot 39.1% overall from the field. They struggled a bit from long range but made 14 of 27 two-point shots. Both teams had 15 turnovers.

Rib Lake had last beat Edgar 53-51 on Dec. 6, 2019.