The Rice Lake boys basketball team split a pair of games in the final week of the regular season in taking down Medford in a nonconference game on Feb. 20 before traveling to New Richmond on Thursday and suffering another close defeat by the Tigers.
Rice Lake (14-10) begins the postseason Friday at home as the fourth-seeded Warriors play the winner of a Tuesday night matchup between No. 5 Rhinelander and No. 12 Hayward. The Warriors finished at 6-8 in the Big Rivers to place sixth. Eau Claire Memorial won the league title at 12-2.
New Richmond 59, Rice Lake 57Rice Lake had overcome a double-digit deficit in the first half but the Warriors found themselves on the losing side with another two-point loss to New Richmond. In a home game for Rice Lake on Jan. 12, New Richmond prevailed 64-62.
Late in the first half of Thursday’s contest, the Warriors had fallen behind by 12 after a triple by the Tigers with 1 minute, 20 seconds until the break. The Warriors closed within eight, 28-20, at halftime and a quick start to the second half had Rice Lake right back in it.
With around 6 minutes to go the Warriors were in front 50-45 and the teams played close the rest of the way. Down by two nearing the final minute, JT Schradle got a steal and fastbreak layup to even the score with 1:20 left, but New Richmond got the game’s final points as Rice Lake heads into the postseason coming off a loss.
Zach Orr finished with a game-high 28 points, while Evan Strand added 11 and Schradle 10. Connor Durand had six points and four rebounds. Strand, Schradle and Will Johnson also grabbed four boards. Orr led the Warriors with four assists.
Rice Lake shot 46.9% from the field and made six 3-pointers. New Richmond made 48.9% of its shots and knocked in eight triples. The Tigers were led by 16 from Jack Charbonneau and 1 from Reis Hidde.
Rice Lake 56, Medford 51In the regular season home finale for Rice Lake, the Warriors scored the game’s final 19 points for a nonconference win over the Raiders.
Rice Lake trailed 51-37 after a pair of Medford free throws with 4:42 left. Those were the Raiders’ final points of the game as the Warrior defense held Medford (11-12) off the scoreboard on its last nine possessions.
The Warrior run started with a 3-pointer from Schradle. A string of defensive plays sparked the Rice Lake offense. First Colten Eggleston blocked a shot inside by the Raiders for one stop, and then Orr forced a turnover and he weaved his way into the corner and put a triple that fell.
Another Orr steal turned into a Durand fast break layup drawing a Medford timeout as the Warriors had climbed to within 51-45 with 3:18 to go.
Durand then stole the inbounds pass and immediately found Schradle for two more points.
Medford went to the foul line in the bonus with a few ticks less than 3 minutes on the clock. The Raiders missed the free throw and on the ensuing trip down the floor Orr got inside and passed the ball back out to Schradle, who lined up a shot from distance and connected. That brought Rice Lake within one with 2:11 left.
With a little more than a minute to go, another missed foul shot by the Raiders gave the Warriors another chance to take the lead. Orr drove inside, faked a move to his right, and spun back left to score in the paint with 45 seconds to go and give the Warriors their first lead since it was 7-4 just 3 minutes into the game.
After Medford missed a deep 3-pointer and follow-up shot inside, the Warriors grabbed possession. Rice Lake went to the line in the bonus but couldn’t connect on the first. Again the Warrior defense got another stop on a contested look. Orr secured the board and was fouled with 8 seconds remaining. He made one shot at the line but Durand grabbed the offensive board and was fouled. He too split his foul shots but this time Schradle secured an offensive rebound. Schradle made two free throws for the final margin as Medford missed a layup in the final seconds.
Schradle and Orr combined for 45 points with Schradle scoring 24 and Orr 21. Durand added seven points. Medford was led by 20 from Tanner Hraby and 11 from Hayden Koester.
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