MEDFORD BOYS BASKETBALL - Positives taken from River Falls loss; GNC schedule to pick up

MEDFORD BOYS BASKETBALL

In the final boys basketball game of the River Falls Holiday Classic Dec. 31, the host Wildcats threatened to make it a rout, jumping ahead 30-12 but Medford hung tough from there, making a couple of runs before falling short against a quality Big Rivers Conference squad 63-46.

Clearly undersized, the Raiders held their own on the glass with River Falls holding a 31-26 edge in total rebounds and had a slightly better field goal percentage. But River Falls hit nine of 24 3-point shots to outscore Medford by 12 from behind the arc and got to the free throw line a bit more to never feel seriously threatened while improving to 5-2.

Medford also lost to New Richmond 5444 on day one of the classic.

“We kept battling,” Medford head coach Ryan Brown said of the River Falls loss. “Probably the biggest takeaway from this week is that we never stopped fighting for the ball. That’s what I felt like we were lacking the last couple games. There was more ‘I’m going to box out, I’m going to go get it, I’m going to do whatever it takes to get a hand on a ball.’ We tried. They had a couple killer 3s on us.”

Cold shooting was the primary culprit that put Medford in its early 18-point hole. But Hayden Koester’s 3-pointer woke up the offense. Devin Dassow followed that up with a 3 and Peyton Ried and Charlie Gierl scored inside for a quick 10 points that made it 30-22. Brody Graetz sank a 3 for River Falls to stop the run, but Will Daniels, who saw his first action of the season at the holiday classic, broke down the defense and scored at the rim from the left side with eight seconds left pulling Medford within striking distance at the half at 33-24.

Daniels scored again to start the second half and Koester’s 3 made it 35-29 with 15:30 to go, but River Falls got a 3-ball from Preston Johnson to start a surge that put it back ahead by 17 at 52-35, following 3s by Cullen Johnson and Tanner Bottolfson. Medford reduced its turnovers to 14, but six of them came early in the second half.

Medford got scores from Daniels, Ried and Koester to make it 52-41 with 5:10 to go, but the Raiders weren’t able to get any closer.

Koester arguably had his best game of the season with 19 points, five rebounds, five assists, two steals and a blocked shot. He made eight of 13 shots from the field, including three of four 3s.

“This was a huge step for Hayden and he’s trying to lean on a 230-pound, 6-7 Iowa tight end (Eli Johnson). Some of the plays he made, whether it was getting a deflection or hand on a ball were big. Charlie, even though he wasn’t getting a lot of open 3s, he did a lot of good things until he kinda got hurt.”

Daniels got his first eight points of the year along with four rebounds and two assists. Dassow scored seven points. Gierl had five points and four rebounds before sitting out the last seven minutes. Ried had four points and four rebounds. Nick Krause had a second-half basket and Will Wojcik added a late free throw.

Medford shot 44.4% from the field (20 of 45) but made just one of five free throws.

Graetz sank three 3s and led River Falls with 15 points. Bottolfson scored 10. Eli Johnson had six points and eight rebounds. The Wildcats shot 43.6% from the field (24 of 55) overall.

“We had some nice takes to the rim,” Brown said. “We need to finish versus contact. I don’t mind that. I was in their ears a little bit, but that was a good crew of officials. They’re not going to call fouls on that. You need to be the hammer. River Falls was so disciplined on taking away our curls and stuff, but we did a pretty good job of attacking without turning it over and finding some other opportunities.”

Medford returned to Great Northern Conference play Tuesday, winning 67-44 at Antigo. Medford will be home for three straight games starting with a nonconference game tonight, Thursday, against La Crosse Central. Then it’s back to GNC play for games with Northland Pines Friday and Tomahawk Tuesday. All three home games tip at 7:15 p.m.