Mounder boys defeat Baldwin-Woodville and Glenwood City to cap regular season

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ELK MOUND — Thanks to a pair of convincing home victories to finish off the regular season which included a clean sweep of its games against Middle Border competition, the Elk Mound boys’ basketball team is heading into the playoffs riding a five-game win streak.

The Mounders had their offense clicking on all cylinders when they welcomed Baldwin-Woodville (9-15) Monday, February 19 for a non-conference game. Elk Mound had three players  finish in double figures to help led the squad to a 64-51 win over the Blackhawks.

Three days later, Elk Mound finished its conference and regular-season schedule with an 82-38 thrashing of the Hilltoppers of Glenwood City. That win gave the Mounders a 12-2 mark in the final Dunn-St. Croix standing, but it was not enough to claim a second straight conference championship. That honor went to Durand-Arkansaw after a victory over Boyceville that same evening allowed the Panthers to take the undisputed title with a 13-1 record.

The Mounders showed a propensity to shoot and make their long-range attempts as they finished with a combined 21 three-point baskets in the two games.

Elk Mound will head into the WIAA Division 3 tournament with a 20-4 overall record and the top seed in the bottom half of the Arcadia Sectional. The Mounders have an opening-round bye and will host the victor of the Black River Falls (#9) versus Altoona (#8) contest in a Friday, March 1 regional semifinal. Elk Mound defeated both squads during the regular season, prevailing 72-40 against Black River Falls way back on December 4 and held on to beat Altoona 65-58 in a January 2 contest.

Baldwin-Woodville

Elk Mound shot 44 percent from the field and made nine triples when Baldwin-Woodville came to the Mound February 19.

Seven of those long-range bombs fell in the first half. Kaden Russo, who had a dozen of his team-leading 15 points in that opening frame, Cale Knutson, and Zane Brice each buried a pair of three-point baskets and Brady Amble had one to help Elk Mound take a 35-26 advantage into the locker room at halftime.

The Mounders also outpointed the Blackhawks in the second half by a 29-25 count to take a 64-51 win. In the final 18 minutes, Knutson added two more treys to finish with a dozen points, Sam Wenzel scored four inside hoops and a free throw for nine of his 13 points and Grandt Mueller, who was held without a point going into half, finished with five.

“Cale and Kaden played great on the offensive side of the ball for us. They were able to hit some threes against their zone and it pulled them out of the zone in the second half. Once they went to man defense, we did a great job of finding Sam in the paint. That put a lot of pressure on their defense and helped us get a 20 point lead in the second half,” said Chris Hahn, Mounders’ head coach.

Elk Mound finished with a slight rebound advantage, 30 to 27 but had 21 assists to 14 for Baldwin-Woodville. Wenzel led his team with six boards while Russo, Mueller and Brice each tallied five. Knutson had a high of five assists, with Russo and Logan Jerome adding four apiece. Jerome also had four of the Mounders nine steals.

Elk Mound finished 11-for-17 at the charity stripe.

Evan Clausen led Baldwin-Woodville with 18 points and Cal Smith added 11. The Blackhawks made seven threes of their own but were just 2-for-5 at the free throw line.

Glenwood City

Kaden Russo and Logan Jerome combined for 33 first-half points as Elk Mound jumped to a huge 45-15 halftime advantage over Glenwood City when the two teams met for the final Dunn-St. Croix and regular-season game last Thursday in the Mounder gym.

Russo canned four threes in the first 18 minutes of play and added three deuces for 18 of his game-high 23 points. Jerome was also on fire as he added a pair of triples and four other hoops to tally 15 of his 19 points in the decisive first half of play.

“We played an excellent first half. For the most part, we were able to speed them into playing faster than they wanted and I thought our length really gave them problems,” said Hahn.

“Kaden and Logan came out and hit a lot of shots in the first half that got us out to a comfortable lead at halftime,” he added.

Sam Wenzel and Cale Knutson also had a three each in the opening half and went on to finish with 11 and ten points respectively.

In all, Elk Mound tallied a dozen three pointers, eight in the first half alone, and had several slam dunks.

The Mounders simply overwhelmed the Hilltopper defense all evening long. When Glenwood City finally did step out to guard against the three-point threat, the Mounder players simply went straight to the hoop for easy baskets.

In all, 11 Mounder players scored in the contest that ended in an 82-38 victory for the hosts.

“Lucas Johnson got his first start of the season and made so many hustle plays,” stated Hahn. “He is one of the shorter guys we play, yet he led us in rebounding. His energy was contagious tonight and really set the tone on senior night.”

Johnson tallied six of the Mounders 28 rebounds. Wenzel finished with five and Russo and Mueller had four each. That same trio also turned in a dozen assists as each finished with four.

Elk Mound shot nearly 50 percent in the game and finished 6-for-6 from the line.

Glenwood City tallied six triples, two each from Brody Olson, Tyler Harrington and Caleb Klinger, who led the Hilltoppers in scoring with 12, eight and six points, respectively. The Toppers also shot six free throws but made just two.