Toppers boys sweep season series from rival Bulldogs

PROTECTED CONTENT

If you’re a current subscriber, log in below. If you would like to subscribe, please click the subscribe tab above.

Username

Password

Login

Lost your password?

Username and Password Help

Please enter your email and we will send you a password reset link.

Email

Submit

← Back

By Missy Klatt
Sports Correspondent

GLENWOOD CITY — It’s always a “big game” when your local rivals come to town. This past Thursday, January 28th was no exception when the Boyceville Bulldogs boys’ basketball team ventured west down Highway 170 to take on the Glenwood City Hilltoppers.

Both teams are sitting at the bottom of the Dunn-St. Croix conference with the Toppers besting the Bulldogs in their last match up. The Hilltoppers got the better of the Bulldogs once again as they defeated their rival for the second time this season by a score of 76-53.

The game got under way when Topper Justin Moe hit for three at the 16:40 mark. With the Hilltoppers throwing on a full-court press right away they soon had a steal and Drew Olson laid up for two more. The Bulldogs countered with a short jumper from Connor Sempf in the paint.

As play continued, there were turnovers and missed shots from both sides although decidedly more from the Bulldogs. Much more time was spent at the Hilltoppers’ end of the court for when they did miss a shot they were there for the rebound and sometimes took several shots before sinking one.

With the Toppers leading 15-10, Drew Olson found himself at the free throw line where he connected with both of his shots. After a Bulldogs’ turnover, it was a nice ally oop pass from Brandyn Hallquist to Olson for two more Topper points.

After a Hilltopper timeout at the 9:52 mark, Gavin Janson hit for three giving the Toppers a 22-10 lead. At 9:25, the Bulldogs called their own timeout to regroup. Following this timeout, Jack Phillips drove up the key for two.

The second part of the first half still favored the Hilltoppers as the Bulldogs struggled to put the ball through the hoop and had virtually no offensive rebounds. Trailing 13-27, the Bulldogs took another timeout at the 7:57 mark. This was followed by two more buckets from the Toppers’ Drew Olson, both off of rebounds before Walker Retz beat the press and dropped in two points under the basket for the Bulldogs.

Glenwood City continued to press but were now getting a little aggressive as it was racking up more fouls. This helped the Bulldogs as seven of their final eleven points of the half came from the free throw line. Chase Hollister and Nick Olson had the two field goals for the remainder of the half.

The Toppers took a healthy 40-26 lead into the locker room.

The second half started at the free throw line for the Hilltoppers, who went three-for-four. The Bulldogs then got the scoreboard when Jack Phillips hit for two after a Bulldog steal. Brandyn Hallquist countered this with a reverse layup for the Toppers. Connor Sempf immediately followed this with a nice baseline three pointer. The Toppers countered with a drive in the paint from Moe for two. Then Sempf found himself at the line where he hit both shots making the score, Bulldogs 33, Toppers 47.

It was two more points from each team before things dried up and no one scored for about three minutes taking the clock down to 10:45 when Moe of Glenwood City found himself at the line shooting two, one of which he made.

Over the next several minutes, the Toppers outscored the Bulldogs 12-8 before a timeout was called at the 6:57 mark. After the timeout, the Toppers went on a seven-point run before the physical play of Owen Swenby caused him to commit his fifth personal foul sending Sempf to the line for the Bulldogs with just over four minutes left to play.

Sempf made both of his shots making the score, 69-45 in favor of the Toppers. About a minute later it was Sempf racking up his fifth personal foul putting Drew Olson on the line for the Toppers where he found success twice over.

The Dogs then found themselves at the line, first with Connor Larson, who hit both ends of a one-and-one and then Mason Bowell was at the line where he connected on the front half of his one-and-one. Hallquist countered this with a drive to the basket which was good plus he drew the foul, adding another point.

After a Bulldogs’ turnover, it was a fast break with Mitchell Bliese passing off to Drew Olson for two. With 1:32, the Toppers called a timeout but when play started again it was all Bulldogs with two from Walker Retz followed by a nice three from the top of the arc from Simon Evenson with nine seconds to spare.

But Glenwood City went on to win this second meeting of the local rivals, 76-53.

“Was a big win for us!” exclaimed Topper head coach Tristan Kittilson. “Proud of the way we played, I thought we played hard for 36 minutes, rebounded the ball at a high level and got a lot of nice things out of our press!”

For Bulldog head coach Colby Dotseth, it was a different story as he lamented, “This game was kind of a continued story as far as how the whole season has gone. We couldn’t finish on open layups throughout the game and we played flat footed and gave up way too many drives in our half-court defense.”

Dostseth concluded, “All we can do is put this game behind us and prepare for the next one. I have told the boys no one expects us to win, so we have no pressure just go out compete and we might surprise ourselves and teams and pull off a couple of upsets and then come playoff time you never know what can happen.”

The Toppers were led by Drew Olson who had a career night with 24 points, followed by Brandyn Hallquist who added 16 and Justin Moe with 13.

“I thought Justin Moe really played a great game as well for us! Looking forward to build on it for a long stretch of games!” remarked Kittilson.

For the Bulldogs, it was Connor Sempf with 17 points followed by fellow seniors, Walker Retz with nine points and Connor Larson with eight.

It was the second conference win for Glenwood City, who dropped road games to Turtle Lake and Durand on Friday and Saturday respectively to fall to 2-7 in the D-SC and 4-10 overall. The loss, meanwhile, left Boyceville winless in conference play at 0-7 and 1-14 overall.

Glenwood City (76)

FG-FT-F-TP: Hallquist 6-3-3-16, Bliese 2-0-3-5, G. Janson 4-1-0-11, Olson 9-6-2-24, M. Janson 1-0-1-2, Eggert 1-0-1-2, Anderson 0-0-1-0, Moe 5-2-3-13, Swenby 0-3-5-3. Total 28-15-19-76.

Boyceville (53)

FG-FT-F-TP: Retz 3-1-3-9, Wold 0-0-0-0, Evenson 1-0-3-3, Sempf 4-7-5-17, Olson 2-2-2-6, Phillips 3-0-4-7, Larson 2-4-1-8, Bowell 0-1-0-1, Hollister 1-0-0-2. Total 16-15-18-53.

Glenwood City…..…..…….40  36 – 76

Boyceville……..…..…..……26  27  – 53

3-point goals: Glenwood City: Hallquist, Bilese, G. Janson, Moe. Boyceville: Evenson, Sempf 2, Phillips.