Elk Mound boys win pair of road games, beating Bloomer and Mondovi
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Despite being a bit shorthanded, the Elk Mound boys’ basketball squad was able to pull out a pair of road wins last week to extend its win streak to four games.
Playing without two of its starters in Bloomer last Tuesday, December 14, the Mounder boys were able to take a ten-point lead at halftime and then hold off the host Blackhawks in the second half to win 49-41.
Two days later in Mondovi and still down a point guard, Elk Mound also overcame the loss of starting center Jerome Delikowski early in the game thanks to another offensive gem by Kaden Russo. The sophomore forward dropped in 18 first-half points and finished with a game-high 27 points to lead his team to a 66-56 conference win over the Buffaloes to stay one game behind D-SC front runner Durand.
Heading into the Christmas break, Elk Mound is now tied for second place in the early-season conference standings at 2-1 along with Mondovi, Spring Valley and Elmwood/Plum City. Overall, the Mounders are 6-1.
Elk Mound will play three straight non-conference games when it returns from its holiday respite beginning next Tuesday afternoon, December 28 when it hosts Stanley-Boyd in a 1 p.m. contest. The Mounders will then hit the road for evening games at Fall Creek and Chetek-Weyerhaeuser on Thursday, December 30 and Monday, January 3, respectively.
Bloomer
Down a couple of starters, Elk Mound had to lean its defense to set the tone when it visited Bloomer December 14.
While the defense held a tough Blackhawks team to just 14 points in the first half, the Mounders had just enough offense to hold a ten-point advantage at half time. The Mounders made four of their six treys in the opening 18 minutes of play as Kaden Russo netted a pair wit Aiden Bartholomew and Cale Knutson each adding one.
Center Jerome Delikowski, who went four-for-four at the free throw line with a bucket in the first half, led the Mounders’ second-half offensive push with ten points, on five two-point hoops, and finished with a team-high 16 points.
Knutson added eight in the final half to finish with 11 points and Russo, tallied a dozen.
Bloomer, led by Connor Crane’s 20-point performance, sank six of its eight three-points in the second half but it was only enough to edge out the visiting Mounders by two points, 27-25, who held on for the 49-41win.
Bartholomew led Elk Mound with a half dozen boards with Russo, Sam Wenzel and Delikowski contributing three each to the team’s total. Russo also finished with three steals.
Both teams shot well from the free throw line with Elk Mound making 11 of its 14 attempts and Bloomer converting on three-of-four.
“Fun night of hoops,” sated Elk Mound head coach Michael Kessler. “Really proud of our kids. Down 2 starters, they battled from start to finish. Really happy with the way we played defensively. Thought we rebounded really well, and forced a lot of contested shots.”
Mondovi
Entering Thursday night’s game at Mondovi, the Elk Mound boys were still down a starting point guard and just a few minutes into the contest, they would find themselves without the services of stalwart center Jerome Delikowski who had to exit the game and did not return.
But Coach Kessler’s crew did not panic as the rest of the team picked up the offensive slack.
Leading scorer, Kaden Russo, stepped up and scored 18 of his game-high 27 points in the opening half including three triples to help the Mounders to a 32-27 halftime advantage over host Buffaloes who entered the game without a conference loss.
Jarod Falkner, who scored 11 of his 21 points in the first half, tried to rally Mondovi to the lead in the second half with another ten points.
But Mounder Ethan Johnson found his shooting touch as he scored all 11 of his points in the latter half. Russo added another nine, Sam Wenzel also netted all nine of his points in the second half as well with three hoops and a 3-for-3 effort from the free throw line and Aiden Bartholomew scored a three and two charity tosses for five of his 11 points as Elk Mound outscored Mondovi 34-29 to take the ten-point win, 66-56.
“First night in a long time we were able to play in a gym that had a ton of energy from both student sections and fans,” stated Coach Kessler. “Really proud of our guys tonight.”
“Thought our kids battled all night long. We had two or three opportunities to extend our lead in both halves, but Mondovi found a way to get themselves back into it,” he added.
“Kaden Russo had a big night with 27 points, and we huge contributions in the second half from Sam Wenzel, all 9 in second half, and Ethan Johnson, all 11 in second half. I thought Aiden Bartholomew did a lot of great things offensively in both halves and Brex Todd played a whale of a game on the defensive end,” continued Kessler.
“Was really happy with the pressure we applied, and got our hands on a lot of passes. (Jarod) Falkner is a great player for them, and had 21 tonight, but I was pleased with how we forced him to take, and make, a lot of shots with a hand in his face. Looking forward to getting guys health over the holidays and will be back at it after Christmas,” he concluded.