Elk Mound boys fall to Red Hawks, clip Cardinals
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It was a busy week on the basketball court for the Elk Mound boys as they played three contests including a pair in the Dunn-St. Croix.
The Mounders opened with a non-conference home contest against Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau (GET) last Monday,
February 13. In the game that was rescheduled from early January due to inclement weather, Elk Mound took a nine-point advantage to the locker room following a high-scoring first half. But in the second half, the Red Hawks rallied and soared to a 67-62 win. Fortunately, the Mounders rebounded quickly posting a 10-point victory in Colfax the next evening (see that game story elsewhere in this week’s sports section) followed by a 61-50 home-court triumph over Spring Valley last Friday, February 17 to improve to 12-0 in conference action and maintain their one-game lead over second-place Durand-Arkansaw.
Elk Mound (17-5) will finish out the regular season this week with a pair of Dunn-St. Croix conference games. The Mounders’ home game against Elmwood-Plum City (originally scheduled for Thursday) was moved ahead to this past Monday, February 20 due to an impending snow storm. Their contest in Durand is still slated for Saturday afternoon, February 25. Elk Mound can secure a share of the conference title with a win over EPC and the outright crown by beating Durand-Arkansaw whom they defeated 73-54 back on February 3.
The Mounder boys also learned their seed in the upcoming WIAA Division 3 tourney which will begin next Tuesday, February 28. They received the number two seed in the bottom half of sectional #1. The Mounders will have a first-round bye and will host the winner of the Mauston (#10) versus Arcadia (#7) quarterfinal in a Friday, March 3 regional semifinal. Elk Mound lost to Arcadia 65-57 in a December 2 game played on the Mounders’ court.
Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau
In one of its best offensive halves this season, the Elk Mound boys basketball team went into halftime of last Monday’s non-conference tilt with Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau (11-11) leading 44-35.
But in the second half, the Mounders lost all their momentum and eventually the game as they were outscored 32-18 in that final stanza by the Red Hawks who escaped Elk Mound with a 67-62 win in the February 13 tilt.
“We played an outstanding first half of basketball. We moved the ball well, passed up good shots for great shots, and were extremely efficient hitting 56 percent from the field and 10 three pointers. We did not turn the ball over and were able to attack the basket well,” stated Elk Mound head coach Chris Hahn.
“In the second half, we had 9 turnovers and our offensive movement was terrible. We stood too often and were not patient enough to find open shots,” he noted.
After nailing ten triples in the first half, Elk Mound hit just two in the final stanza to finish with a dozen. GET tallied 11 baskets from behind the three-point arc.
A trio of Mounders scored in double digits led by junior Kaden Russo who had a game-high 24 points on 8-for-17 shooting including 5-of-13 from three-point land and 3-for-3 on free throws. Russo also finished with three rebounds and three assists. Sophomore Cale Knutson finished with 12 points, all coming off treys, a team-leading seven rebounds and eight assists with a pair of steals. Sam Wenzel finished with 11 points, four boards and two steals. Logan Jerome added six points and three rebounds while Ryan Bartig had four points to go with five assists and three rebounds.
“Kaden played another excellent game for us. He was aggressive and has been excellent the last few weeks. We have not done a good enough job getting Sam the ball inside. He is so skilled around the rim, we need him to get more touches throughout the game,” Hahn said.
Cody Schmitz and Braden Anibas combined for 41 of GET’s 67 points. Schmitz shot 9-for-18 including a three and was 2-for-3 at the free throw line to finish with a team-high 21 points. He also led the Red Hawks rebounding effort with team-leading ten boards and had four steals. Anibas went 6-for-8 behind the three-point arc and 2-for-2 at the line to finish with 20 points and added five assists, four rebounds and three steals.
“I give GET a lot of credit. They made adjustments and got their best two players going in the second half and we didn’t respond well. We knew Schmitz and Anibas would be aggressive, but I did not have our kids ready to play well enough in the second half,” concluded Hahn.
Spring Valley
Clinging to just a two-point halftime lead at home against Spring Valley last Friday, Elk Mound found some breathing room in the second half and went on to claim a 61-50 win for a season sweep of the Cardinals.
Spring Valley, the defending conference co-champs who are currently sitting in third place this season, stayed even with Elk Mound throughout much of the first half of the February 17 rematch.
The Mounder held a 26-24 advantage at intermission but were able to open up their offense and thereby the lead in the second half as they outscored the Cardinals by nine, 35-26, to win by double digits.
After scoring a combined 25 points in games against GET and Colfax earlier in the week, Sam Wenzel netted 20 to lead Elk Mound in the victory. He also corralled ten of Elk Mound’s 29 rebounds. Ryan Bartig and Kaden Russo scored 13 and 12 points, respectively, with Russo hitting three and Bartig two of the Mounders seven triples in the game. Aiden Bartholomew chipped in for seven points and Logan Jerome had six.
Elk Mound secured the win at the free throw line where it finished 14-for-16.