Toppers tripped up by Cards, remain winless
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TOPPER senior Jayden Quinn (#15) took a shot during a December 20 Dunn-St. Croix conference boys’ basketball game played in Glenwood City against Spring Valley. The Cardinals won the game 62-53. —photo by Shawn DeWitt
by Joel DeWitt
Sports Correspondent
GLENWOOD CITY — Heading into the final game before the holiday break, the Hilltopper boys’ basketball team hoped to get their first win of the year against the reigning Dunn-St. Croix champion and current front runner Spring Valley.
Glenwood City jumped out to a quick 6-0 lead with only three minutes played and led 8-7 at the 11:00 minute mark. However, Spring Valley would claw ahead for the 28-20 lead at halftime.
The second half would see the Cardinals maintain a double-digit lead for most of the half as they held on for the nine-point victory at 62-53. The loss put the Hilltoppers at 0-5 (0-3) on the early season.
Elek Anderson got the scoring started early for the Hilltoppers on their first possession as Max Janson found him open under the basket for the easy bucket.
Morgen Eggert followed up with a couple of free throws at the 15:30 mark to put Glenwood City up 4-0.
The Hilltoppers stretched the lead to 6-0 on the next possession when on an inbounds play, Eggert would lob the ball to a cutting Anderson who would catch and shoot for the bucket.
SENIOR Morgen Eggert (#2) attempted this three-point shot during a December 20 home basketball game versus Spring Valley. The defending conference champion Cardinals won 62-53.
—photo by Shawn DeWitt
Spring Valley scored the next seven points to take the lead before Anthony Nelson would hit a shot from the right block to give Glenwood the lead once again at 8-7.
Unfortunately, the Hilltoppers went into a shooting drought. The next 7:30 minutes saw Glenwood hit only two free throws and trail the Cardinals 20-10 with 5:00 remaining in the first half. Tyler Harrington hit a three pointer from the corner to pull the Toppers to within seven.
The two teams traded buckets for the remainder of the half to go into intermission with Spring Valley up 28-20.
The Cardinals would score the first five points of the half to extend the lead to 33-20.
Harrington hit a reverse layup to cut the deficit to 11. A rebound and put back by Anderson cut the deficit to nine. Janson drove the lane on the next possession and hit a floater to pull Glenwood within seven at 33-26.
However, a 11-2 Spring Valley run put the game out of reach for the Hilltoppers as the Cardinal held on for the 62-53 win.
Offensively, the Hilltoppers shot 44 percent from the field, including a solid 6-for-12 from behind the arc. Nelson and Harrington paced the team with 13 points a piece. Harrington was perfect from the field going 5-for-5, including 3-for-3 from 3-point range.
On the defensive side of the ball, the Hilltoppers held the Cardinals to under 40 percent from the field. However, 19 offensive rebounds by Spring Valley more than made up for any deficiencies from the field.
The Toppers jump back into action with three road games to start the new year. They travel to Clear Lake on January 3 and Mondovi on January 6, both games tipoff at 7:15 p.m. They then head to Minneapolis on January 7 for a 3:15 p.m. game at Target Center against Eleva-Strum.