Hilltopper boys sweep week, open season 4-0
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THE TOPPERS’ Zachary Hill (#23) converted this second-half, fast break opportunity into points in a December 7 home basketball game versus Elmwood-Plum City. Hill netted nine points in the Toppers 60-53 win over the Wolves. —photo by Shawn DeWitt
by Joel DeWitt
Sports Correspondent
For the first time in over 15 years, the Hilltopper boys’ basketball team finds themselves undefeated after four games. While the three games this week were vastly different, all three resulted with Glenwood City walking away with a victory.
Glenwood City opened the week on December 5 with a road trip north to Clayton to take on the Bears. Other than an early 2-4 deficit, the Hilltoppers led the entire game en route to a 32-point victory.
The boys in blue then hosted Elmwood/Plum City on December 7 for their first conference game of the year. While they trailed at halftime, a great start to the second half propelled them to the 60-53 win.
The Hilltoppers concluded the week on December 9 participating at UW-Stout in the Northwest Classic. Glenwood City was pitted against Cadott and trailed most of the game before a late run, and six points by Brody Riba in the final five seconds, tied the score at the end of regulation.
The Hilltoppers outscored the Hornets by four in overtime to take home the win and go to 4-0 on the early season.
The undefeated start marks the first time the Hilltoppers have been 4-0 since the 2007-08 season when they finished 14-8 on the year.
“These boys put in a lot of time in the off-season, and it is great to see benefits from that work,” indicated coach Patrick Olson. “We also realize it’s only December and we have a lot of basketball to play.”
The Hilltoppers look to continue their undefeated streak this week with a pair of conference contests.
They traveled to Spring Valley (3-2, 1-1) on December 12 for a matchup with an always tough Cardinal team. Game was not completed in time for this edition.
The Hilltoppers will then host Mondovi (1-2, 0-1) on December 15.
Clayton
Even though they trailed early at 2-4, an 18-4 run boosted the Hilltoppers to an early advantage that they did not relinquish.
Tyler Harrington started the run with a floating jumper in the lane to tie the score. Moments later, a steal by Brody Olson led to another Harrington bucket to put the Toppers up 6-4 with 15:00 minutes left in the first half.
A basket by Olson and two by Zach Hill extended the lead to 12-6 less than five minutes into the game. Harrington’s 3-pointer with 4:30 left in the half extended the lead to 20-8.
GLENWOOD CITY senior Morgen Eggert drove the lane and attempted an underhanded layup late in the Hilltoppers December 7 home game against Elmwood-Plum City. Eggert scored 21 points to lead Glenwood City to a 60-53 win. —photo by Shawn DeWitt
The Hilltoppers continued the hot shooting and went into intermission up 32-15.
Glenwood City continued to pour it on in the second half. Runs of 11-2 and 10-3 sealed Clayton’s fate as the Hilltoppers outdistanced them 63-31.
As a team the Hilltoppers shot an outstanding 57 percent from the field on the night, which includes 16-25 from 2-point range and 8-17 from beyond the arc.
Olson led the team in scoring, putting in 20 points on the night. Morgan Eggert, Harrington, and Caleb Klinger each almost broke the double-digit mark with them contributing nine, eight, and eight, respectively.
Elmwood/Plum City
The Hilltoppers found their second contest of the week to be a dog fight when they opened conference play against the Wolves. The first half saw four ties and six lead changes as Elmwood/Plum City took the lead into halftime 31-29.
However, the Hilltoppers stormed back to begin the second half. A free-throw and a 3 pointer by Eggert ignited the Hilltoppers to the 33-31 lead early in the second half.
Two more baskets by Eggert and another by Hill in quick succession extended Glenwood City’s advantage to 39-31 with only five minutes gone by in the half.
A 3-pointer by Harrington, and drive and basket by Eggert extended the lead to 44-33 with 10:00 left in the contest.
The Hilltoppers widen their lead to 13 points on back-to-back buckets by Brady Thompson, the second coming with less than 5:00 left in the game.
However, the Wolves wouldn’t play dead on the evening. They countered with their own 17-6 run to cut the Hilltopper lead to two points at 54-52 with less than a minute left in the game.
Nevertheless, Glenwood City hit on 6-of-8 free throws down the stretch to hold on for the 60-53 win.
Eggert paced his squad offensively on the night going 7-10 from the field, including 2-3 on 3-point shots, for 21 points. Olson added 13 points in the effort.
Cadott
The Hornets proved to be the Hilltoppers toughest test of the week. Cadott jumped out to an early 11-3 lead in the early morning contest at UW-Stout fieldhouse.
However, Harrington woke his team up with a 3-pointer at the 11:00 mark to start a mini 6-0 run for the Hilltoppers. A free throw by Eggert and a basket by Hill cut the Cadott led to 11-9.
Consecutive baskets by Cadott extended their lead to six, however the Hilltoppers fought back.
Eggert converted field goals on back-to-back possessions to cut the Hornet led to two. Then Caleb Klinger drained a 3 pointer from the right elbow to give his team their first lead at 16-15.
Cadott outscored the Hilltoppers 9-5 down the first half stretch to go into intermission up 24-21.
The Hornets extended that lead to ten at 38-28 with less than 8:00 left in the game. Yet, the ever-resilient Hilltoppers didn’t quit.
A quick 13-4 run by Glenwood City cut their deficit to only one point. The run was started with a pair of made free throws by Brody Riba and capped by a steal and score by Thompson. The run left Cadott up 42-41 with 3:30 left in the game
A pair of Cadott free throws with 15 seconds left appeared to lock the game up for the Hornets giving them the 52-46 led, however Glenwood City would not be stopped on the morning.
Riba was fouled on a 3-point attempt on the ensuing possession and sunk all three free-throws to cut the deficit to three points.
Klinger intercepted an errant Hornet pass near his own basket and found Riba for the open 3-pointer. The sophomore guard hit the shot as time expired to knot the score at 52 apiece.
Glenwood City outscored the Hornets 10-6 in the extra period to lift them to 4-0 on the year.
“The word that describes our win against Cadott was resilience,” praised Olson. He continued, “I am just so proud of the players for sticking with it so we had a chance to win.”
The Hilltoppers had four players notch double-digit score marks on the morning. Eggert led the way with 15, while Riba was close behind with 14. Klinger and Harrington put in 11 and ten, respectively.