Raiders rally falls short against Merrill

For a moment, the terrible shooting and height difference didn’t matter. Wisconsin Rapids tied the score with 13 second left in the game.

The Merrill Blue Jays, however, made the last bucket for a Wisconsin Valley Conference win, 43-40.

“Early in the game, I thought we had some great looks and they just didn’t go in,” Raiders coach Dan Witter said. “We are offensively challenged and we have to work on getting better, but once we hit a couple of threes, everything looked easier.”

With almost every trackable statistic against them, the Wisconsin Rapids Raiders should have been blown out by a bigger Merrill team, whose frontcourt included 6-foot-9 Jared Wardall, 6-foot-5 Adam Smith and 6-foot-8 David Jesperson.

Down 11 points entering the fourth quarter, the Raiders unveiled a full-court press that created 10 Merrill turnovers.

“We knew that if we could put pressure on these guys we could get turnovers, which helped us come back,” said Zach Bassuener, Raiders guard.

The 6-foot junior hit a 3-point shot from the left elbow to pull the Raiders within 4 points, 38-34. Thirty seconds later, he sank a second 3-pointer — this time from the left corner — to make it a one possession game, 40-37.

Bassuener finished with 12 points, Brady Goska had 13, while Cort Halbur scored 11.

On the ensuing in-bounds pass, Jesperson caught the ball under the Raiders basket and stepped out of bounds as he pivoted to find an open Blue Jay.

The Raiders found Halbur, who hit a 3-point shot to tie the game at 40 with 13.3 seconds left.

“After my first one (3-pointer), I felt like we could do it,” Bassuener said. “Then Cort hit one and everything clicked. We did a good job coming back.”

Merrill’s Ben Anderson broke through the Raiders full-court press and had a two-on-one fast break against Wisconsin Rapids’ Regis Henke. On a questionable call, Henke was whistled with a foul while trying to draw a charge on Anderson’s layup with just 4.8 seconds left in the game.

Anderson, who led Merrill with 17 points, made the following free throw to cap the 3-point play and set the final score.

Goska heaved a running 3-pointer from 28-feet at the buzzer that sailed wide.

In the game, the Raiders only turned the ball over nine times compared to Merrill’s 17 — one of the few statistical advantages in the Raiders’ favor.

“I was disappointed in our inability to handle the pressure,” said Merrill coach Kurt Soderberg. “I felt like our guards let the moment get to us a little bit.”

Shooting was a problem for the Raiders. With 2:50 left in the game, Wisconsin Rapids (0-5, 0-1 WVC) scored its first field goal of the second half — a more than 13 minute drought. But despite the scoring slump, the Raiders rallied, Witter said.

“I thought we gave great effort and we did what we needed to do as far as putting us in a possession to win,” he said. “I can’t fault the the effort.”

Outsized on paper, the Raiders routinely found rebounds — Merrill (1-4, 1-1 WVC) ended with a 25-17 edge — and nothing showed how size can be negated like 6-foot Garrett O’Neil, who out jumped Wardall for the opening tip, which was richly rewarded by the crowd.

“I don’t think height is an issue,” Bassuener said. “It’s more about heart.”