Sluggish offense dooms Hilltoppers in losses to Thunder, Buffalo
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by Joel DeWitt
Sports Correspondent
The Glenwood City boys’ basketball team entered the month of February looking to find consistency on the offensive end. A 66-point output in a win against Elmwood/Plum City on January 31 showed a glimmer of hope.
However, that glimmer has dimmed a bit in the past week. The Hilltoppers managed to put up 71 combined points in two losses the past week to drop to 3-15 (1-10) on the season.
Glenwood City opened action hosting Osseo-Fairchild in their final non-conference game of the season. The hot-shooting Thunder used a strong interior game to double up the Hilltoppers in the February 7 contest, 74-37.
The Toppers then welcomed Mondovi to town for their second matchup of the year against the Buffaloes two nights later. Much like the first matchup, Mondovi jumped to a large first-half lead and cruised to the 63-34 win.
The Hilltoppers traveled to Durand on February 14 to take on the second-place Panthers. They then host rival Boyceville on February 17 with tipoff at 7:15 p.m.
Osseo-Fairchild
Hosting the Thunder, the Hilltoppers struggled to control the paint. Osseo-Fairchild scored 46 of their 74 points in the lane, including 19 transition points. Most of the Thunder’s damage came courtesy of a trio of guards, Ashton Oliver, Lucas Frase, and Body Seefeldt, who combined for 53 points.
The Hilltoppers opened the scoring on the evening when Anthony Nelson hit one of two free-throws. Later, Esdyn Swenby’s baseline jumper cut the Thunder lead to 4-3. However, it would be all Osseo-Fairchild after that.
A series of runs by the Thunder, including a 10-0 and two 7-0, put the Hilltoppers in a deep hole down 35-12 towards the end of the first half.
Regardless, the Toppers kept fighting. A Max Janson layup, followed up by consecutive 3-pointers by Tyler Harrington and Nelson cut the Buffalo advantage to 15 points.
Osseo-Fairchild begun the second half leading 40-22 and used a 29-5 run to take a commanding lead at 69-27 with eight minutes remaining in the game.
Glenwood City was unable to mount any sort of comeback and fell 74-37 on the evening.
Janson and Nelson each contributed ten points on the evening. Elek Anderson trailed close behind with nine.
Mondovi
Much like their previous game of the week, the Hilltoppers struggled to counter runs and fell behind early in a loss to the Buffaloes. Perhaps hurting the Hilltoppers the most on the evening was the 32 turnovers they committed.
Mondovi led wire to wire, with Glenwood City getting to within two points at 8-6 on a Nelson layup with under 12 minutes to play in the first half.
A subsequent 28-6 Buffalo run over next 11 minutes saw the Toppers fall behind 36-12. Nelson was fouled on a layup and converted the free throw to bring the halftime score to 36-15.
To start the second half, Janson hit a pair of free throws and Nelson’s rebound and put back brought the Toppers to within 36-19.
However, Glenwood City got no closer as Mondovi controlled the tempo the rest of the way en route to the 63-34 win.
Nelson led all Toppers with 12 points. Anderson pitched in seven to go along with his eight rebounds.