Last Monday night, the Tomahawk boys basketball squad traveled to Medford for their makeup game with the Raiders, coming out on the short end of a close 48-44 final.
“Medford got off to a quick start and led by 14 points with 10 minutes to play in the first half. Tomahawk executed better offensively and cut the lead to 29-20 at the half.
Tomahawk continued to battle in the second half, as the Raiders gained double digit leads twice before the Hatchets rallied and cut the lead to two, 44-42 with 1:30 to play. In the end, Medford hit four free throws to seal the game. Tomahawk had a shot with under :10 to play, but forced to shoot a three and attempt to get fouled for a four point play made it difficult for the Hatchets as they didn’t have any timeouts remaining.
“We never quit, and battled for the entire game,” THS coach Tim Albert said. “Their fullcourt pressure gave us problems, but our defensive effort allowed us to get back into the game. We defended the arc much better in the second half, allowing only one three pointer. But it’s hard to win when you commit 27 turnovers.”
Tomahawk scoring came from Easton Phalin (17), Justin Jarvensivu (11), Brandon Vecchio (6), Erik Zedler (4) and Riley Tollison (4).
No-go in Antigo
On Thursday night, Tomahawk lost at Antigo 55-43. The score does not indicate that it was a three possession game throughout, as the Hatchets were forced to foul with under four minutes to play to try to preserve time.
In the first half, Tomahawk handled the Antigo full-court press well, and got numerous good looks at the basket. The Red Robins got off to a quick start though offensively, hitting three three’s and getting a nice boost from their inside game.
Tomahawk cut the lead to three, 23-20 with under :30 to play in the first half. Antigo was able to get a corner three to go up 26-20 at the half.
Antigo jumped on the Hatchets early in the second half and built a double digit lead. Justin Jarvensivu hit back to back three’s and the Hatchets cut the lead to seven, before they were forced to foul and see Antigo go 5-6 down the stretch to gain the GNC victory.
“We need to do a better job of taking care of the basketball,” Albert said. “We had too many turnovers, especially on top against their zones that led to easy baskets on their end of the floor.
“I think we are continuing to improve, now we just need to clean some things up and start learning from the mistakes we are making and not commit those same mistakes again.”
Justin Jarvensivu led the Hatchet scoring with 22, followed by Zedler (9), Phalin (8), and Vecchio and Tollison (2 each).