Mounders start season on a roll

Starting the 2013-14 season with a pair of road games, the Elk Mound boys’ basketball team crushed the Eleva-Strum Cardinals in non conference action 59-34 Nov. 19, then two days later began defense of their conference title with a 68-20 blitzing of the Elmwood Raiders.

Eleva-Strum

Zac Doll and Dexter Curry combined for 20 of the Mounders 25 first quarter points as they took a 25-13 lead and continued to build on that lead for the big win. Doll finished with 19 points in the game, all in the first half, and playing the top of the 1-3-1 defense, came up with nine steals on the night. Post player Curry came up with 16 points, 13 in the first half, and pulled down 12 rebounds for the game. Elk Mound took a 20 point lead into the fourth quarter at 54-34 and Logan Strom canned a triple and Ben Holzwarth added a deuce for their final points.

“We had great defensive intensity and I thought we played three solid quarters of basketball,” head coach Chris Hahn said. “We made it very difficult for E-S to run their offense and we forced them further from the hoop then they wanted. But we fouled way too much in the first half and we need to play with our feet, not just our hands,” he added.

The Mounders combined for eight three point shots and were 5 for 10 at the foul line, playing without seniors Travis Nelson and Austin Hanson who are dealing with injuries.

Elk Mound (59) (FGM-FTM-FTA-PTS)  Doll 7-3-4-19, Curry 7-2-6-16, Holzwarth 3-0-0-7, H. Kohls 2-0-0-5, L. Strom 2-0-0-5, D. Lew 1-0-0-3, N. Zurbuchen 1-0-0-2, J. Wolf 1-0-0-2

Eleva-Strum (34) C. Watkins 4-0-0-12, A. Ryskoski 2-2-3-3-8, G. Everson 2-2-4-6, M. Higley 1-1-2-3, E. Runkel 1-1-2-3, G. Toft 0-1-2-1, C. Higley 0-1-2-1

Three Pointers: Watkins 4, Doll 2, Holzwarth 2, Lew 1, Kohls 1, Zurbuchen 1, Strom 1, Ryskoski 1

Elmwood

Using their pressure defense and hot shooting by Doll and Curry, the Mounders jumped out to an early lead yet again. Doll scored 10 points in the first quarter to go with three Curry buckets and the Mounders were up 22-4. Doll added 10 more points in the second and the game was pretty much over at the half with a 39-11 Elk Mound lead.

Hunter Kohls and Strom both poured in seven third quarter points, increasing the lead to 61-17 and putting the new WIAA rule into effect. The rule states if any team is up by more than 40 points anytime during the game, a running clock will be used. The Mounders finished off the win with Dane Lew scoring five points on a deuce and a triple while Justin Erpenbach hit a basket in the final fast eight minutes.

Strom and Kohls combined for 10 rebounds and nine assists while Doll led the team in the scoring department with 22 points and Kohls and Curry both added 11.

“We did a great job of pressuring the ball tonight,” Hahn said. “We were able to force them wide and deflect a lot of passes which turned into some easy baskets for us. We don’t seem to anticipate well yet and we are reacting too late. We need to do a better job rebounding on the defensive end.”

Elk Mound (68) Doll 9-2-3-22, Kohls 4-2-3-11, Curry 5-1-1-11, Strom 4-0-0-9, Lew 3-0-0-7, A. Gottschalk 1-0-0-2, Zurbuchen 1-0-0-2, Wolf 1-0-0-2, Erpenbach 1-0-0-2

Elmwood (20)  N. Wells 5-0-0-12, L. Wolf 1-0-0-3, N. Bechel 1-1-2-3, T. Freyholtz 1-0-0-2

Three Pointers: Doll 2, Lew 1, Kohls 1, Strom 1,Wolf 1, Bechel 1