Mounder boys trip up Toppers, slip past Buffaloes
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SCORING MACHINE — Mounder senior Ben Heath (#3) scored a basket on this play despite being fouled by Glenwood City’s Maxwell Janson during first half action in a Dunn-St. Croix boys’ basketball game in Elk Mound on Monday, January 4. The Mounders outscored the Toppers 43-13 in the first half and went on for a 66-37 victory as Heath led the way with 25 points. —photo by Shawn DeWitt
By Marlys Kruger
Sports Correspondent
After winning a pair of non-conference contests a week earlier, the Elk Mound boys returned to Dunn-St. Croix action and continued their winning ways with a 66-37 trouncing of the Glenwood City Hilltoppers January 4 on their home court. They ended the week with a road win over the Mondovi Buffaloes in a close 61-58 contest January 8.
Elk Mound is now 6-5 overall and 3-1 in Dunn-St. Croix Conference play and will host a pair of games over the next week beginning this Thursday, January 14, with a non-conference contest against Baldwin-Woodville followed by the Bulldogs of Boyceville next Tuesday, January 19.
Glenwood City
When you’re hot you’re hot is how the saying goes, and the Mounders were certainly hot from three-point range early on. Ryan Bohl, Nate Lew and Kaden Russo all connected from long range to help the Mounders take a 14-6 lead.
With Elk Mound playing their 1-3-1 zone defense, the Toppers had trouble getting a handle on the ball and turned it over plenty of times which the Mounders took full advantage of. Russo canned another trey and knocked down a free throw, Ryan Bartig drained his own triple, and after Russo scored on a fast break, the advantage went to 23-6.
Glenwood City’s Gavin Janson finally broke the Mounder run on a couple of free tosses, but the Mounders went right back to work. Russo connected again from behind the arc, Lew scored off a steal and a layup and added a free throw, then Ben Heath added a couple of shots from the paint to make it 33-8.
Drew Olson scored for the Toppers but his team would score only three more points in the half on a Janson triple. Meanwhile, Heath scored three times when he got behind the Topper’s full court press and Russo also added a deuce on an easy layup and it was 43-13 at the intermission.
“I thought we did a really nice job of controlling the tempo in the first half,” Elk Mound coach Michael Kessler said. “We were getting out in transition and getting easy buckets that way. We also did a nice job of pushing the ball off both turnovers and rebounds. And we were able to handle their pressure well that also led to some easy baskets,” he added.
Glenwood City managed to come alive a bit to start the second half with a couple of shots from deep to cut the Mounder lead to 45-25. But, Ethan Levra scored on a take away and layup, and Heath came up with seven points in just a couple of minutes on a trey and a pair of fast break layups.
Russo showed his versatility with two shots in the paint, Bohl added another deuce as did Antonio Meyer, Michael Jenson scored his only points of the game on the team’s eighth triple and a Meyer free throw gave the Mounders their final points in the 66-37 win.
Heath led all scorers with 24 points, Russo added 18 and Bohl and Lew both had six. The team was six-for-13 at the foul stripe while the Toppers were three-of-four.
Mondovi
It was Mondovi’s turn to get hot from three-point land as they knocked down 13 of them in the game while the Mounders had seven. It was pretty slow going in the first half for both teams, however, as they both struggled to knock down shots.
Elk Mound led by a slim margin of 22-21 at the half but they had a nice run to start the second half and extended their lead to 11 points. Mondovi responded, however, by hitting five triples in five straight possessions and continued to shoot well to keep the game close.
“It was a back-and-forth game for the last four minutes,” coach Kessler said. “Our guys battled and got timely stops and hit free throws down the stretch. It was a fun game to be a part of,” he added.
Ryan Bartig finished with a season high 16 points which included eight-of-eight free throws and a pair of treys. Russo added 11 points while Bohl, Lew and Jenson all had 10 points. The team hit 22-of-31 free throw attempts. Jarod Falkner led the Buffaloes with 20 points.
