Elk Mound boys fall short in Bloomer, trample Mondovi Buffaloes at home
PROTECTED CONTENT
If you’re a current subscriber, log in below. If you would like to subscribe, please click the subscribe tab above.
Username and Password Help
Please enter your email and we will send you a password reset link.
After trailing by as many as 17 points in the second half, the Elk Mound boys nearly pulled off the upset of once-beaten Bloomer before falling 46-45 in non-conference road basketball game Monday, January 22.
No second-half comeback would be needed three days later when the Mounders hosted a struggling Buffaloes’ team from Mondovi. In a defensive gem, Elk Mound held Mondovi to just six, second-half points en route to a convincing 62-19 victory in the Thursday, January 25 Dunn-St. Croix Conference contest.
With the split, Elk Mound bumped its conference mark to 7-2, good for third place, and is now 14-3 overall.
The Mounders had an opportunity to move within a game of Dunn-St. Croix leader Durand-Arkansaw when they hosted the Panthers last evening in what was their only game of the week. Elk Mound has an out-of-league game at St. Croix Central next Monday, February 5.
Bloomer
The Blackhawks (15-1), leaders of the Cloverbelt West Conference, put the Mounder boys on their heels early when the two teams met in Bloomer January 22.
Bloomer made six of its eight, three points shoots, three off the hands of the Blackhawks’ leading scorer Domanyck Schwarzenberger and two by Jake Bleskacek, in the first half as it took a 26-17 lead into halftime.
“Bloomer came out and played a great first half,” stated Elk Mound head coach Chris Hahn.
“After going up 4-0, Bloomer had us on our heels a bit because they were able to get too many straight-line passes,” he added.
Hahn said his team was eventually able to make adjustments and did a much better job in the second half.
Single three pointers by Mounders all-time leading scorer Kaden Russo, Logan Jerome, and Zane Brice helped to keep the visitors in the contest during the first half.
Elk Mound would find itself down by double digits midway through the second half, however, but was able to turn up the intensity and force Bloomer into numerous scoreless possessions.
And a hot hand by Russo certainly helped!
The senior made six, second-half hoops of the two-point variety and was 3-for-4 at the charity stripe as he finished with 19 points to lead the Mounders’ attempted comeback.
“Kaden was fantastic in the second half,” said Hahn. “He carried us on both sides of the ball.”
Jerome aided with his second triple of the game to go with two hoops to tally ten points, Sam Wenzel put in a pair of baskets to go with two in the first half to finish with eight and Lucas Johnson nailed Elk Mound’s fifth and final three pointer.
Despite a 28-20 advantage in second-half scoring that helped the Mounders take a couple of one-point leads in the final two minutes of regulation, Elk Mound eventually fell a point short as the final score read, Bloomer 46, Elk Mound 45.
The Mounders were 19-45 shooting with a 5-19 effort beyond the arc and were just 2-of-9 at the free throw line. Elk Mound finished with 22 rebounds with Sam Wenzel pulling down seven, Logan Jerome six and Cale Knutson four. Wenzel added three steals and Jerome two.
Schwarzenberger finished with 11, well below his 23 points per game average, to lead Bloomer. Zeke Strand scored six points in the second half to finish with ten for the Blackhawks and Jake Bleskacek tallied nine points on a trio of treys.
Mondovi
Defense was the name of the game when Elk Mound hosted Mondovi for a Dunn-St. Croix game Thursday, January 25.
The Mounders held the Buffaloes to just 13 points in the second half while scoring 27 by the intermission.
Elk Mound tightened its defense even more in the second half allowing Mondovi to score just six points as it added 35 more points of its own on the way to a 62-19 win.
“Brady (Amble) and Lucas (Johnson) came out and set a great tone on the defensive side of the ball,” Hahn cited.
“Both of them played extremely hard and pressured the ball well,” he added.
Amble also contributed a pair of first-half threes to help the offense.
Kaden Russo scored 11 of his game high 17 points in the first half. Grandt Mueller came off the bench and had a great game, providing 13 points to the Mounders’ tally including nine in the second half where Elk Mound outscored Mondovi by 29 points.
In all, 11 different Mounders scored in the game.
Elk Mound was 27-59 with six three pointers and 4-for-7 at the line.
Logan Jerome had five rebounds to lead the Mounders and also had five steals along with Russo.
Bryce Bollinger was the top scorer for Mondovi with five points, Cadyn Deden added four and Denton Lassel had three.