Treys topple Toppers in losses to Mounders, Warriors
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THE TOPPERS’ Anthony Nelson (#25) pulled down this defensive rebound as he beat Mounder Sam Wenzel to the boards. Nelson finished with ten points to lead Glenwood City who fell 65-35 in the January 26 contest. —photo by Shawn DeWitt
by Joel DeWitt
Sports Correspondent
Lately, the Hilltoppers boys’ basketball team has been bitten by the 3-point bug. Glenwood City saw Boyceville hit 10-for-18 3-pointers in a tough defeat the previous week. Elk Mound and Amery nearly matched that output.
The Mounders and Warriors combined to shoot 51 percent from beyond the arc to hand the Hilltoppers back-to-back losses.
Glenwood City traveled to Elk Mound on January 26 to take on the conference co-leading Mounders in their only conference game of the week. Elk Mound used an early 18-point run to jump out to a 23-point halftime advantage en route to the 65-35 win.
The following night, Glenwood hosted Middle Border foe Amery. Warrior Carter Wollan proved to be a one-man wrecking crew as he put up 41-points on the evening to push his team to the 68-53 victory.
The defeats leave Glenwood City at 2-12 (0-8) with seven games remaining on the regular season.
Glenwood City returned to action hosting a January 31 contest against Elmwood/Plum City. They then travel to Spring Valley on Friday, February 3 for a 7:15 p.m. rematch with the Cardinals. Their final non-conference game will be February 7 when they host Osseo-Fairchild.
Elk Mound
The Hilltoppers found the going tough early in the evening at Elk Mound. Elek Anderson initial bucket gave the Toppers the early lead and then his two free-throws tied the game at four apiece.
Unfortunately for Glenwood City, it took then almost ten minutes to register another field goal. By the time Anthony Nelson hit an 8-foot jumper from the baseline with 6:40 remaining in the half they were down 26-8.
Glenwood City only mustered two more buckets for the remainder of the half, 3-pointers by Tyler Harrington and Nelson, to go into intermission down 37-14.
Glenwood City didn’t fare much better in the second half. While they put up 21 points, they couldn’t pull any closer as the Mounders continued their hot shooting.
Elk Mound was 10-for-20 from 3-point range on the night to pull away and coast to a 65-35 victory.
Nelson led the Toppers with ten points on the evening, going 4-for-9 from the field. Jayden Quinn followed up with seven.
Amery
An Anderson bucket, followed up by a 3-pointer by Harrington put Glenwood City up 5-0 early.
Nelson and Quinn followed up with baskets to put the Hilltoppers up 9-5 with only 4:10 off the clock. However, two straight 3-pointers gave the Warriors the lead at 11-9.
A pair of free throws by Nelson, coupled with a pick-and-roll bucket by Esdyn Swenby put Glenwood back on top 13-11.
Unfortunately for the Toppers, the Warriors started to heat up. Three 3-pointers on four possessions put Amery up 20-13 with 9:19 remaining in the first half.
Two buckets from Anderson, and a Quinn layup pulled Glenwood to within one point at 20-19. However, sophomore guard Wollan took over offensively for the Warriors. He scored 19 consecutive Warrior points down the stretch of the first half to give Amery the 36-28 lead.
Wollan started the second half with a bucket, but Quinn’s put-back brought the Warrior lead back down to eight. Amery extended their lead to a game-high 12 with two consecutive buckets.
However, the Hilltoppers would go on a 10-2 run to pull within 44-40. The run was a team effort that saw Quinn, Max Janson, Anderson, Swenby, and Nelson contribute to make it a two-possession game with just under 10:00 left in the game.
Regrettably, the Toppers could only muster 11 more points the remainder of the contest and Amery held on for the 68-53 victory.
Glenwood City once again saw their opponent hit over 50 percent from behind the arc, with Amery going 12-for-23. Wollen accounted for more than half the makes going 7-for-12 on 3-pointers.
Anderson led the Hilltoppers with 17 points, going 7-for-10 from the field. Nelson was the only other Hilltopper in double digits with ten points.