Boyceville boys surrender lead and game to Elmwood/Plum City
ELMWOOD — Just when things appeared to be going Boyceville’s way, everything fell apart.
The Boyceville boys held a nine-point lead in the first half of its Dunn-St. Croix basketball game against Elmwood/Plum City during last Saturday afternoon’s matinee doubleheader at Elmwood High School that was played in conjunction with the girls’ squads.
The Wolves, defending conference champions and currently sitting in a fourth place tie, rallied to take a one-point, 21-20, halftime lead. The host then doubled down on its offensive output in the second half, outscoring the Bulldogs 42-18 en route to a decisive 63-38 win.
“We came out with a good game plan and had a 19-10 lead at one point in the first half,” said Bulldogs’ second-year head coach Ben Luer. “But the run Elmwood/Plum City had right before half hurt our team’s confidence. I felt we were just a different team after halftime.”
A completely different team than started the February 6 road game.
After controlling a good portion of play in the first half, Boyceville, now 1-8 in conference and 1-15 overall, unraveled on both sides of the ball and never recovered from the Wolves’ 11-1 run late in the opening half.
Micadin Kahl connected on a pair of three-point baskets, Luke Knudtson had a pair of 2-point hoops and made good on three of four free throws and Bryce Boda added two buckets of his own to give Boyceville its nine-point cushion.
But the Wolves then went on the attack. Luke Baier, who tallied 10 points in each half to lead the hosts, put Elmwood/Plum City on the path to victory.
The Wolves quickly expanded their one-point halftime advantage as the offensive flood gates opened wide and drowned the Bulldogs in the second half.
Elmwood/Plum City had eight different players score points in the second half as it put up 42 points in the final 18 minutes to take the win. The Wolves’ Darek Nelson scored ten of his 12 points in the second half. Justin Joyce, Wyatt Holt and Kraig Heit, all who had been held scoreless in the first half of play, got in the scorebook in the second half with six, five and four points respectively.
Elmwood/Plum City also had five three-point baskets from four different players including a pair from Sam Hoyt, who finished with eight points.
With the exception of a Hunter Anderson free throw, all of Boyceville’s second-half scores were courtesy of Micadin Kahl (two more threes to finish with all four of Boyceville’s triples) and Luke Knudtson, who netted four more deuces and was a perfect three-for-three from the free throw line. Knudtson finished with 18 and Kahl had 12.
“When we play well, we can play with anyone,” concluded Luer. “We just have a lot of room for error.”
The Elmwood/Plum City game was the first of four straight road games for the Boyceville boys who played in Spring Valley last night in a make-up of the Feb. 2 contest that was postponed by last Tuesday’s snow storm. The Bulldogs then travel to Colfax on Thursday, February 11 and will be in Elk Mound on Tuesday, February 16.