Hodag Highlights: Boys fall to Menomonie in regional final as stellar season ends at 22-4

The Rhinelander High School boys basketball season came to a close this weekend with one more win, one final loss, and a legacy that a conference championship and a 22-4 record will preserve for years to come.
Friday night’s regional semi-final against the Wausau East Lumberjacks opened as a defensive chess match. Neither offense could find traction in the first half, and the teams trudged to the locker room deadlocked at 15 apiece — a scoreline that reflected just how locked-in both defenses were.
The second half loosened up considerably. Both teams moved the ball with more purpose and shots began to fall. Rhinelander steadily built its advantage, and with just over seven minutes remaining, the Hodags held a 21-point lead. It looked like smooth sailing.
Wausau East had other ideas. The Lumberjacks mounted a furious run that trimmed the deficit to seven, making for a nervous final stretch. But when East was forced to foul, the Hodags answered calmly. Devon Feck and Jatyn Barkus converted their free throws down the stretch to seal a 64-52 victory.
Juniors Rowan Wiczek and Abe Gretzinger led Rhinelander with 16 points each, and Barkus also reached double figures. The team’s free throw performance was a thing of beauty — 16-of-19 on the night, an 84 percent clip. Wausau East, by contrast, connected on just 8-of-20 from the stripe, a 40 percent mark that proved the evening’s defining statistical contrast.

On Saturday night the Hodags hosted Menomonie in the regional final, and through one half, everything looked promising. Rhinelander led 22-19 at the break, having done a credible job containing Menomonie’s most dangerous weapon — a 6-foot-8 junior forward Trevor Robert. The second half belonged to him. The big junior erupted for 17 of his game-high 23 points after the break, punishing the Hodags inside and altering the contest around the basket at both ends. He fueled a Menomonie run in the latter stages of the second half that Rhinelander simply had no answer for, and the visitors pulled away to a 65-51 victory.
The free throw ledger told a damning story. One night after going 16-of-19 from the line, the Hodags converted just 1-of-2 on Saturday. Menomonie, meanwhile, was 16-of-25 — a 15-point swing that, in a 14-point game, accounts for the margin all on its own.
Abe Gretzinger led Rhinelander with 11 points and Evan Shoeder added 10, but the Hodags could not generate enough offense against Menomonie’s interior advantage to keep pace.