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Boyceville boys rebuffed by Mondovi in last-second loss

BOYCEVILLE — Getting the lead is one thing, maintaining it is another, as the Boyceville boys’ basketball team discovered last Friday.

Twice – once to open the contest and again in the second half – the Bulldogs built comfortable 15-point advantages before eventually losing both of them and the January 5 conference home game when Avery Hoepner sank a pair of free throws with 1.7 seconds left to lift Mondovi to an improbable 57-55 win.  

The loss dampened the offensive efforts of Boyceville’s senior duo of Bryce Boda and Luke Knudtson who combined for 45 points.

Boyceville opened the game with a 15-0 run and maintained much of that as the Bulldogs had a 32-21 lead going into the locker room at halftime.

Unfortunately Boyceville converted just eight field goals and seven of nine free throws in the final 18 minutes. In contrast, Mondovi dropped in 12, and was eight for 11 from the line to close out the game.

The Bulldogs built the lead back to 15 points and led 40-25 with 13:12 to play in the second half.

Then Mondovi slowly began to whittle away at Boyceville’s advantage before taking its first lead at 47-45 on Brennen Christopherson’s three-point hoop at 4:10.

Bryce Boda hit a three – his only points of the second half after pouring in 22 in the opening 18 minutes of play – to give the Dogs a 50-49 lead with 2:38.

The lead would change hands six times in the final two and a half minutes before Hoepner’s two charity tosses gave the seventh and final lead back to the Buffaloes to stay.

Boda finished as the game’s high scorer with 25 points spread across 10 field goals, five of which were for three. Mondovi’s Hoepner was the second-highest scoring player, accounting for 23 of the Buffaloes’ 57 points.

Boyceville’s Luke Knudtson picked up 20 points in the game, 14 of which came in the second half; Jayson Gonzales scored eight points, and Cooper Boesl logged two.

The Bulldogs fell to 0-4 in the conference, and were 3-6 overall heading into this week. Boyceville faced Cadott at home January 8, and will head to Glenwood City January 11. They will host Durand January 16 before heading to Spring Valley January 19.

MONDOVI 57, BOYCEVILLE 55
Mondovi……………………21  36 — 57
Boyceville…………………32  23 — 55

TEAM STATISTICS (FG-FT-F-T)

Mondovi (17-14-10-57) — B. Christopherson 2-0-1-6, C. Johnson 1-2-3-4, A. Hoepner 6-7-2-23, R. Fath 0-1-1-1, O. Schultz 1-2-0-4, K. Fuentes 4-0-2-10, G. Gifford 2-0-1-5, B. Larson 1-2-0-4.

Boyceville (21-7-14-55) — B. Boda 10-0-2-25, J. Reisimer 0-0-1-0, Lo. Knudtson 0-0-1-0, J. Gonzales 2-4-5-8, B. Larson 0-0-2-0, Lu. Knudtson 8-3-1-20, C. Boesl 1-0-2-2.

THREE-POINTERS
M — B. Christopherson 2, A. Hoepner 2, K. Fuentes 2, G. Gifford 1; B — B. Boda 5, Lu. Knudtson 1.