Fall Creek edges Elk Mound boys
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ELK MOUND — Hosting Fall Creek in a non-conference contest last Monday, January 9, the Elk Mound boys’ basketball squad fell a point short of victory as it lost 46-45.
The Crickets (9-2), leaders in the Cloverbelt West Conference, held off a late charge by the Mounders (8-3) to take the one-point win.
“Tonight was a great high school basketball game for spectators to watch,” commented Chris Hahn, Elk Mound head coach.”
“Two good teams went at each other and unfortunately, Fall Creek made a few more plays than we did,” added Hahn.
Elk Mound trailed 26-19 at the intermission and fell behind 43-28 with about ten a half minutes remaining in the contest after it became a bit passive offensively and turned the ball over according to Hahn.
But, an ensuing 17-0 run by the Mounders over the next ten minutes gave them a two-point advantage at 45-43.
Fall Creek, however, nailed a three with just 22 seconds to play to go back in front 46-45 and when Elk Mound couldn’t get their final shot to fall, the Crickets escaped with the win.
Sam Wenzel led the Mounders and all scorers with 14 points. He finished 5-of-8 from the field and 4-for-4 at the charity stripe and hauled in a ream-leading eight rebounds for Elk Mound.
“Sam Wenzel played an impressive game,” said Hahn. “He continues to be our most efficient player and we need to find ways to get him the ball more.”
Cale Knutson also finished in double digits for Elk Mound scoring 11 points including three of his teams seven triples and added six steals and four rebounds. Ryan Bartig who sank a pair from behind the three-point arc contributed nine points while Kaden Russo and Aiden Bartholomew each scored five points with Russo adding four assists and Bartholomew three.
Isaac Steinke and Leo Hagberg topped the scoring for the Crickets with 12 and 11 points, respectively. Bo Vollrath tallied nine and corralled a game-high 14 boards for Fall Creek.
Elk Mound finished 7-for-21 from three-point land and were 10-17 at the line. Fall Creek hit five of its 14 long-range attempts and made just one of its five free tosses.
“On the defensive side of the ball, during the last ten minute of the game, we played as good of defense as I’ve seen. If we can find a way to play all games with that energy, I know we’ll have a chance to win every night we play,” concluded Hahn.
The Mounders, who defeated rival Colfax three days later, has three straight conference road games this week. They were in Spring Valley last night, at Durand-Arkansaw Thursday and turnaround to take on the E-PC Wolves in Plum City the next day. They return home next Tuesday, January 24 to host Bloomer in a non-conference contest.