Boyceville boys come up with first win against Glenwood City

By Laura Giammattei

GLENWOOD CITY — The Glenwood City Hilltoppers endured a heartbreaking 62-46 loss to the Boyceville Bulldogs at home during Glenwood City High School’s Parents’ Night this past Friday, January 22.

Glenwood City’s loss, however, was a relieving victory for the Boyceville Bulldogs, marking their first win of the season.

The Boyceville Bulldogs set the pace of the game early and led the Toppers 9-0 three minutes in. Four individual Bulldog athletes contributed to their early points, which included buckets from the arc: one by sophomore Bryce Boda and the other by junior Micadin Kahl.

Down by nine and with cold shooting, the Toppers appeared frazzled as they attempted to gain some control of the game. Then, a huge blocked shot from Dillon Heirlmeier seemed to be the emotional boost the Toppers required to push their momentum forward. Unfortunately, the play ended with an injury to Heirlmeier which took him out of the game.

Still down by nine and now also down a key athlete, the Toppers faced a lot of ground to cover to catch up to the Bulldogs. Shortly after the injury timeout, a layup from senior Joel Ormson put the Toppers on the board. However, they continued to shoot cold while Boyceville stayed hot and the half concluded with Boyceville ahead 31-12.

The second half fared much better offensively for the Toppers, with senior Nathan Mrdutt and sophomore Riley Schutz producing most of the team’s points, especially within the last ten minutes of the game. Mrdutt began the offensive momentum with a transition steal, which he brought back to the other side of the court for an easy layup. From there, he and Schutz took turns banking layups and sinking shots from the paint and arc for the remainder of the game.

In addition to their improvement on offense, the Toppers also enforced a full-court press against the Bulldogs in an effort to diminish their opponents offensive production and opportunity. Their tactic did work as intended, however the Bulldogs sustained control of the game and the Hilltoppers just could not regain the ground lost in the first half.

For the Bulldogs, sophomore Luke Knudtson stepped up and produced many of the team’s points in the second half including three two-point shots from the field. He also connected on four of his six attempts at the free throw line. He ended the night with 19 total points, the most for the team. Fellow teammate, senior Hunter Anderson, was not far behind with 17 total points, scored from all angles of the court, including four two-point shots from the field, two buckets from the arc, and he also connected on three of his four free throw opportunities.

Proud Boyceville head coach, Ben Luer, commented on the team’s first win of the season, “I thought we played well and played as a team. It’s the first time I have seen us really talking and communicating well on both offense and defense. They began the game playing very well and I think they got excited when they realized ‘hey this could really happen.’ So, I just let them play and didn’t get in the way too much. We switched up the defense, put a couple of seniors up top and their leadership I think led us a bit through the first half. We have quite a few younger kids on the team and I thought they stepped up as well and that teamwork overall is what got us the win.”

Toppers’ head coach Tristan Kittilson responds to his team’s loss, “It was a tough game. They came out early and hit some big shots to take the lead and we struggled early against their zone. We would go on to lose our starting point guard to a concussion about five minutes into the game and we just could not make enough plays to ever get back into the game. We had to scramble around to make plays and force the action, but it was just too late; the damage had been done. Hats off to the Bulldogs, they played hard right from the start and never let off the gas.”

The Hilltoppers will refocus their efforts towards a very tough game in Elk Mound against the Mounders on Thursday, January 28 and then will travel to take on the Elmwood/Plum City Wolves on Tuesday, February 2.

The Boyceville Bulldogs’ played on Monday, January 25 in Turtle Lake and will host the Durand Panthers on January 28 and hit the road for Spring Valley on February 2.