Elk Mound boys bow out in regional semi-final
MAUSTON — After receiving a bye as the number six seed in the Division 3 regional tournament, Dunn St. Croix Conference champions Elk Mound took an early exit with a 66-51 loss in the semi-finals to the Mauston Golden Eagles in Mauston March 4.
Mauston was the number three seed and were also conference champions, finishing 9-1 in the South Central Conference, and they were 18-4 overall. Both teams made their share of three point shots in the contest which was quite common for the Mounders this season, as they knocked down 10 of them with five from Cole Tyman. But the Golden Eagles bested that with 13 of their own, seven coming off the hands of Taren Hall. Elk Mound only visited the free throw line twice in the game, knocking down 1 of 3 shots, while Mauston was there quite often, mostly late in the second half, and finished 14 of 15.
Tyman’s three triples in the first half along with one from Brandon Bohl, five points from Dane Lew, four from Ben Lambele and two by Colin Svee kept the Mounders within striking distance as they were down 26-23 at the intermission. Elk Mound kept plugging away and forged ahead with around five minutes to go in the game but couldn’t hold on to the lead, and once they lost it they just couldn’t get it back after Mauston began hitting free throws. Tyman drained two more treys with a deuce in between, Lew canned a triple and a pair of close range buckets, Lambele added a deuce and a trey, both Bohl and Jameson Rubenzer hit from behind the arc and Justin Erpenbach knocked down a shot in the paint for the Mounders’ second half scoring.
“We just didn’t shoot the ball well, and to Mauston’s credit, they hit enough shots,” Mounder coach Chris Hahn said. “I though when we took the lead in the second half, we had the momentum on our side, but they responded to take it back. They made all their free throws down the stretch and we never threatened again. They were a little more athletic then us and their length caused us some problems. I am very proud of what our group of players have accomplished this season,” he added.
Tyman led Elk Mound with 17 points and Lew finished with 12. Hall scored 27 points to lead Mauston. The Mounders finished their season at 17-6 and 12-2 in conference play.
MAUSTON (66) Hall 9-2-2-27, K. Voss 4-5-6-14, T. Erler 4-0-0-10, M. Surch 2-0-0-6, K. Fassett 0-6-6-6, C. Saylor 1-0-0-3
ELK MOUND (51) Tyman 6-0-0-17, Lew 5-1-1-12, Lambele 4-0-0-9, Bohl 2-0-0-6, Rubenzer 1-0-0-3, Svee 1-0-2-2, Erpenbach 1-0-0-2
THREE POINTERS: Hall 7, Tyman 5, Bohl 2, Erler 2, Surch 2, Lew 1, Lambele 1, Rubenzer 1, Saylor 1, Voss 1