Pirates spoil Topper boys season and home opener
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GLENWOOD CITY’S Bryce Wickman looked to put this running jump shot over a Grantsburg defender in the Hilltoppers’ season and home opener November 30. —photo by Jacob Maes Photography
by Joel DeWitt
Sports Correspondent
GLENWOOD CITY — In his second stint as the boys’ basketball head coach, Patrick Olson is looking to improve on a 5-17 mark from the previous season. His first test would come November 30 as his Hilltoppers would host the Grantsburg Pirates, defending champions of the Lakeland West conference.
While the Hilltopper team showed some hustle and grit, a big run in the first half by Grantsburg would prove too much for Glenwood City as they would fall 61-48 in their season opener.
The Hilltoppers would find themselves out to a fast start. After quick buckets by Max Janson, Justin Moe, Elek Anderson, and Brady McCarthy, Glenwood City would find themselves up 8-5 early on. However, a quick seven-to-one run would see Grantsburg erase that led and go up by three points with ten minutes remaining in the half.
Another eight-point spurt by the Pirates late in the first half would see them extend the lead and cruise into intermission up by 14 points at 37-23. Even though they were trailing at half, there were positives coming out of the first 18 minutes. The scrappy Toppers were able to wrangle many offensive rebounds leading to second chance points, with Anderson and Moe paving the way with six and five points, respectively.
After Grantsburg hit a three-point shot to extend the lead to 17 points to begin the half, the Hilltoppers attempted to use a couple of mini runs to cut into that lead. The Toppers would score three straight buckets to cut the lead to 11.
After Grantsburg extended the lead back to 17, a five-point run would bring the Hilltoppers to within 12 points at 54-42. However, the Hilltoppers would never get that deficit into single digits and Grantsburg would win 61-48.
While the scoreboard showed the Hilltoppers on the losing end, there are some positives that came out of the game. The new Hilltoppers showed a lot of depth, as they had nine players score in the game. Leading all scorers on the evening was Anderson with 11 points. Moe and Mitchell Bliese followed right behind with eight and seven points, respectively.
The Hilltoppers have three chances in the coming week to get their first victory. They hosted Colfax on December 7 to open conference play. They will travel to Elk Mound on Thursday December 9 to play the Mounders and will then play Thorp Saturday, December 11 at UW-Stout in the Northwest Shootout. Game time is 10:15 a.m.