Mounder boys master Mauston, bombed by G-E-T Red Hawks in regional final

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ELK MOUND — It was a tale of two very different games when the Elk Mound boys’ basketball team hosted a pair of back-to-back regional contests last Friday and Saturday, March 3 and 4.

After receiving a bye in the opening round as the half-sectional’s second seed, Elk Mound welcomed the Mauston Golden Eagles for a WIAA Division 3 regional semifinal contest Friday. The Mounders, propelled by a trio of double-digit scorers, put the first 16 points on the scoreboard and never looked back as they clipped the Golden Eagles 68-40 to earn another home game and shot at a regional championship against Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau (G-E-T) who had beaten host Elk Mound by just five points less than three weeks earlier.

This matchup, however proved to be no  contest.

Despite scoring the first five points in the Saturday evening game, Elk Mound found itself trailing by double digits at halftime as the Red Hawks soared behind a 45-point performance from 6’ 5” junior Cody Schmitz who demonstrated his shooting and jumping prowess by finishing with five of his squad’s 12 triples and a trio of slam dunks. G-E-T continued to put up points in the second half as Elk Mound’s accomplished season ended in an 80-48 rout.

“It’s always tough when the season comes to an end. I believe we are a sectional level basketball team and I’m disappointed that I was not able to prepare our team well enough to get a win in the regional final,” stated Mounders’ head coach Chris Hahn.

“There’s no doubt in my mind that these kids are good enough to be a sectional level team,” he added.

The Mounders finished with a 20-6 record and a Dunn-St. Croix Conference championships after posting a 14-0 mark.

 Meanwhile, the Red Hawks (15-12), who finished third in a tough Coulee Conference, advances to Thursday’s sectional semifinal where they will play their conference’s champion and  the state’s top-ranked Division 3 team – West Salem (25-1). The Panthers won both regular-season meetings against the Red Hawks by margins of 28 and 37 points.

Mauston

The Golden Eagles never took flight when they traveled to Elk  Mound for the March 3 regional semifinal contest.

Fresh off an upset at number seven Arcadia in Tuesday’s opening round of playoff action, tenth-seeded Mauston found itself trailing by double digits just four minutes into last Friday’s contest thanks to Elk Mound’s opening offensive barrage that never really let up.

The Mounders opened the game on a 16 to zip run with points coming from the paint and behind the three-point arc.

During that span, junior Kaden Russo hit a two- and three-point hoop to account for all five of his game points, senior Ryan Bartig put in a pair of free tosses along with a triple, sophomore Cale Knutson added a hoop and sophomore Logan Jerome capped the quick start with a slam dunk.

“We shot the ball extremely well,” said head coach Chris Hahn of the Mauston contest. 

His team finished 26-for-48 or just a tad over 54 percent shooting for the evening which included a 9-for-19 effort from three-point land.

“The kids moved the ball well and we jumped out to a 16-0 lead and never looked back,” added Hahn. 

But, it was the post play of Sam Wenzel that was truly impressive. The junior was literally unstoppable around the basket netting a dozen points in the first half and six more in the final stanza to finish with a team-high  18 points. The Mounders also got double-digit performances from Jerome and Bartig who both tallied 11 points in the 68-40 victory.

“Sam continued his dominate play and Logan Jerome played his best game of the season,” stated Hahn.

“That young man is really just scratching the surface for how good he can be,” added Hahn about Logan Jerome. “If he puts in a lot of work in the offseason, he could very easily be a first-team all conference type player.”

Hahn was also effusive in his praise of the team’s senior point guard.

“Ryan Bartig was huge for us again tonight. He not only scores at an efficient rate, but he also does all of the little stuff that makes a team successful. He was excellent tonight,” Hahn stated.

Mauston finally erased its goose egg from the scoreboard when senior Sam Rattunde put down a three at 11:43.

But the points just kept flowing like water for the Mounders.

With Wenzel scoring at will under the hoop, Bartig sent a pair of triples through the twine, Knutson added his own trey and two more conventional hoops to go with it and Grandt Mueller came off the bench to contribute four points – a basket and two free throws as Elk Mound went into halftime holding a commanding 43-17 advantage.

Although the scoring was a bit more tempered in the second half, Elk Mound still outpointed Mauston 25-23 as Wenzel tacked on three more hoops, Jerome added a pair of treys to bring his tally to three, Bartig also hit his third long-range heave, Aiden Batholomew then got into the act with a basket from behind the arc and Mueller added a pair of two pointers and a free toss.

That all added up to a 28-point Mounders’ victory.

Beside its trio of double-digit scorers, Elk Mound got contributions of nine points each from Mueller and Knutson. Mueller added a half dozen rebounds with Jerome pulling in a team-leading  11 which was nearly a third of the Mounders’ total.

While Elk Mound didn’t take many shot from the charity stripe  it made five of its six attempts.

Brock Massey led Mauston and all players with 21 points which included three of the Golden Eagles eight three pointers. Jasper Walsch also netted a trio of threes to finish with 11 points. Mauston missed just one free throw as well, making seven of its eight tries. The visitors were just 13-for-44 shooting.

Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau

For a the first few minutes of Saturday night’s regional title game, its appeared as though Elk Mound was gearing up for a repeat of the previous night’s performance.

A Sam Wenzel basket and a long three off the hands of Kaden Russo put Elk Mound ahead 5-0 just 90 seconds into the contest.

But, just when it appeared that the Mounders were primed for another big opening run, Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau responded.

Junior Braden Anibas put the Red Hawks on the board with a trey and classmate and teammate Cody Schmitz followed with the first of what would be a dozen two points hoops along with five triples and a 6-for-6 effort at the line. In all, Schmitz tallied a dizzying 45 points over the course of the contest to led G-E-T to a 80-48 trouncing of the Mounders.

The Red Hawks had visited the Mounders back on February 13 and left with a close 67-62 win but in this outing it was all G-E-T!

“Tonight we ran into a team that played their best game of the season. Give GET a ton of credit. They hit shots early and often,” said Hahn.

“When a team shoots 60 percent from the field, they’re not going to lose many games and that was certainly the case tonight,” Hahn noted.

“Cody Schmitz was outstanding and we had no answer for him tonight. He showed why he has the potential to be a mid-major D1 player in college tonight and all of his skills were on full display,” he added.

Despite a pair of triples by Russo and Bartig and another by Knutson, its wasn’t enough to counter Schmitz’s 23 first-half points which was complimented by a trio of threes by Anibas and Mason Brone.

The Red Hawks led 45-31 at the intermission.

G-E-T grew the advantage to 60-36 in the first four minutes of the second half with Schmitz hitting twice from behind the arc and followed with back-to-back slam dunks that brought the visiting Red Hawk faithful to their feet.

Following a Mounder timeout at 13:51, Wenzel sank a pair of foul shots only to witness Schmitz earn the conventional three-point play after he was fouled by Logan Jerome on a slam dunk.

But Schmitz, who added another 22 points in the final stanza, and the Red Hawks were not done. He finished off another three-point play with a free toss and then scored on back-to-back layups to put G-E-T ahead 70-39 which caused Hahn to ask for another timeout.

The Mounders embarked on a nine to nothing run as Knutson hit a three and had a hoop and Jerome and Wenzel each scord a bucket to close the gap to 48-70 with 6:35 to play.

But, the Red Hawks got back on track and scored the final ten points of the contest to account for the 80-48 final tally.

Wenzel again topped the Mounders’ offense with 15 points and added a team-high eight rebounds. Russo, Bartig and Jerome all finished with eight points and Knutson had six. Elk Mound, who was 7-for-28 behind the arc and 16-for-51 overall, finished with seven triples, lead by two each from Russo, Bartig and Knutson. The Mounders were 9-for-13 at the line.

Besides Schmitz 45 points, Anibas finished with a dozen all behind the three-point arc and Brone tallied 11 points which also included three triples. G-E-T finished a perfect 10-for-10 from the charity stripe and made a dozen threes in the contest.

“The hardest part is having to say goodbye to our seniors. Ryan Bartig and Aiden Bartholomew were great leaders for us all season and they have left a mark on the program that will stick around for many years. They were great role models for our younger players and younger students in the district. As good as they are as basketball players, I’m even happier to say they are even better people and I know they are going to do great things in this world following graduation,” concluded Hahn.