Mounder boys season comes to end with sectional semifinal loss to G-E-T
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THE MOUNDERS’ Logan Jerome drove toward the basket during the WIAA Division 3 sectional semifinal against Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau Thursday, March 7. Jerome tallied six points in the Mounders’ 61-55 loss at the Wanek Center. —photo by Shawn DeWitt
ARCADIA — For the second straight year, the Elk Mound boys’ basketball season came to a heartbreaking conclusion with another devastating loss to Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau.
A season ago, the Red Hawks came to Elk Mound and thumped the Mounder boys 80-48 in the regional championship behind a 45-point performance courtesy of G-E-T’s leading scorer Cody Schmitz.
The two teams tangled once again in the playoffs, meeting last Thursday evening, March 7 in the WIAA Division 3 sectional semifinals in a packed Wanek Center at Arcadia High School. While Elk Mound held Schmitz to 19 points in the match-up, well below the 6’ 5” senior’s nearly 31 points per game average, it was G-E-T’s supporting cast that got the better of Elk Mound.
Senior forward Braden Anibas (6’ 2”) scored 14 points including four of the Red Hawks’ eight three-point baskets, sophomore point guard Mason Brone (6’ 1”) tallied 13 points on two triples, a pair of two pointers and a three-for-four effort at the free throw line and senior forward Taylor Haney hit his squad’s other three treys for nine points to help lead Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau to a 61-55 victory over Elk Mound. The Red Hawks also held a slim 22-21 halftime advantage.
The win sent the Red Hawks (20-8) to the sectional championship two days later where they were defeated by Middle Border champion Prescott (21-6) by a count of 55-50 to earn a berth in this week’s state tournament at the Kohl Center in Madison.
“We defended their best player (Schmitz) as well as I could have hoped for throughout the entire game,” stated Chris Hahn, Elk Mound head coach. “I was impressed with how hard we rebounded tonight. The biggest difference in the game was their role players hit some timely shots for them. We also had a few live-ball turnovers that led to uncontested layups.”
HIGH ARC — Elk Mound junior Cale Knutson released this shot during the first half of the WIAA Division 3 sectional semifinal versus Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau held March 7 at the Wanek Center in Arcadia. Knutson finished with eight points in the Mounders season-ending 61-55 loss to the Red Hawks. —photo by Shawn DeWitt
“I was so proud of the effort we gave. Our team competed hard and we played well enough to win the game,” continued Hahn.
“Unfortunately, they made a couple more plays than us. In my heart, I know we have a team capable of making it to the state tournament and we’re as good as anyone in our sectional. I’m disappointed I didn’t do a better job preparing our boys because they deserved that experience. They’re all a class act and they represented our team, school, and their families the right way. They were a pleasure to coach all season long,” he added.
With both teams noted for their three-point shooting capabilities, the Red Hawks had made 246 triples on the season while the Mounders finished with 208, it came as no surprise when the first two offensive possessions by each squad resulted in three-point shots that unfortunately missed their marks.
Elk Mound senior Sam Wenzel, who also missed a dunk attempt during the early scoreless exchanges, redeemed himself by getting his own rebound on a subsequent miss and put it through the net for the game’s first two points with 15:47 on the first-half clock.
The Red Hawks’ first points came off a nice steal and fast break by Brone that resulted in a layup and two all tie.
Senior Kaden Russo then tickled the twine with back-to-back three-point hoops to give Elk Mound an 8-2 lead which resulted in G-E-T head coach Jared McCutchen calling for his team’s first timeout at the 12:45 mark.
Coming out of the short break, junior Logan Jerome picked off a pass and went down court and finished with a thunderous slam dunk for his first game points which boosted the Mounder advantage to eight points.
Jerome added a free throw and Russo a basket off a steal to put the Mounders up 13-2 which received the voluminous approval of the Mounder faithful that made up at least half of the capacity crowd.
SENIOR Brady Amble converted this fast break into two points for the Mounders when they played Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau in the WIAA Division 3 sectional semifinal March 7 in Aracadia. Elk Mound fell short as it ended its season with a 61-55 loss to the Red Hawks. —photo by Shawn DeWitt
Haney finally had the Red Hawk fans roar their full-throated approval with his and the team’s first three-point basket.
Following a Mounder turnover, Schmitz scored his first points with 8:15 left in the half when he converted on a drive down the lane and was fouled by Elk Mound senior Sam Wenzel. Schmitz hit the free toss to complete the conventional three-point play and close his team’s deficit to 13-8.
Wenzel used a nice head fake and then slammed the ball down to stop the Red Hawk’s 6-0 run.
But, moments later Wenzel picked up his second foul of the game to send Schmitz to the free throw where he made both tries to drop the Mounder lead to 15-10.
A few possession later, Mason Brone stole the ball and scored an uncontested layup bringing the Red Hawks to within 15-12.
Wenzel responded with a tough baseline jumper for two, but Schmitz, who was finally feeling his shooter’s touch, nailed his one and only three pointer of the contest to pull the Red Hawks to within two points.
That forced Hahn to take a timeout with 5:03 left in the half.
Upon returning, Grandt Mueller pulled down an offensive rebound and was fouled on the put-back attempt. The Mounder senior made both free throws to push his team’s lead back to four.
Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau, however, scored the next five points on a two by Schmitz and another triple off the hands of Haney to take its first lead of the game, 22-19, with two minutes left in the opening half.
TWO-POINT HOOP — Mounder senior Brice Zane drove straight down the lane and scored his only two points in Elk Mound’s 61-55 loss to Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau in the March 7 WIAA Division 3 sectional semifinal game played in Arcadia’s Wanek Center. —photo by Shawn DeWitt
The half ended with Wenzel taking an inside pass and hooping it in to send the Mounders into intermission trailing by one point.
After the Red Hawks turned the ball over to begin the second half, Russo made a pair of free throws to put the lead back in the Mounders’ hands.
The teams exchanged baskets over the next few possessions with G-E-T knotting it at 27 all on Haney’s third and final triple of the contest.
Wenzel responded with a basket and freebie to put Elk Mound back in front by three only to have Anibas, who was scoreless in the opening 18 minutes, hit the first of his four, second-half three-point baskets to bring the game back to even.
Schmitz then hit the back end of a two-shot foul to put G-E-T back on top by a point.
Senior Zane Brice drove the ball right down the lane for the uncontested lay-in and Elk Mound was back on top 32-31.
But the Red Hawks scored eight straight points, which included consecutive coffin corner threes by Anibas, to take a 39-32 advantage with just under 12 minutes to play.
Although Elk Mound cut its deficit to two points on a couple of occasions, the Mounders did not retake the lead until the 2-minute mark after going on 13-7 run that featured three pointers from Jerome, Wenzel and junior Cale Knutson, the final one off a beautiful bounce pass from senior Brady Amble, which were followed by a pair of Russo charity tosses for a 53-52 advantage.
“We got down eight later in the second half and we had huge three-point baskets by Sam, Logan, and Cale and they did everything they could to get us back in the game. Kaden had some incredible weak-side rebounds and calmly knocked down some free throws to give us a one point lead with about two minutes to go,” said Hahn.
But some 30 seconds later, the Red Hawks’ Mason Brone let fly with a 23-foot shot attempt that found nothing but net that put G-E-T back in front to stay.
Brone then extended the Red Hawk lead to 59-53 with four straight free throws, the final two with 9.2 seconds to play.
A Wenzel hoop brought the Mounder deficit back to four, 59-55, as Hahn called for a timeout with 4.1 seconds to play.
Jerome fouled Schmitz on the ensuing inbounds to put the Red Hawks in the double bonus. Schmitz put the final two game points on the board by making both foul shots with 3.3 seconds remaining.
A final half-court heave from Russo was short and wide as Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau claimed the 61-55 victory.
Seniors Sam Wenzel and Kaden Russo (the program’s all-time leading scorer) topped the Mounders’ scoring attack with 19 and 17 points, respectively. Juniors Cale Knutson and Logan Jerome finished with eight and six points, respectively. Brice, Amble and Mueller each had a hoop. Elk Mound made seven three pointers and was 10-for-13 at the free throw line.
It was the final time that Russo, Amble, Wenzel, Mueller, Brice and Lucas Johnson donned their Mounder uniform.
“We had to say goodbye to six very special seniors,” concluded Hahn. “That’s the hardest part in the end. The season will always end at some point, but this team bonded in a way that will keep them connected for years to come.”