Glenwood City boys split opening basketball games, crush Cornell but fall to Bloomer
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JUNIOR Brody Olson laid in this shot for two of his game-high 25 points during the first half of the Glenwood City boys 89-44 non-conference home win over Cornell December 3. Olson also led his team with eight rebounds and nine assists. —photo by Shawn DeWitt
by Joel DeWitt
Sports Correspondent
The Glenwood City boys’ basketball team headed into the 2024-25 season looking to improve on a 10-13 record from the previous year. They opened with a pair of non-conference contests and ended the week with mixed results.
Glenwood City opened action against Cornell on December 3. The Hilltoppers shot nearly 60 percent from the field and never trailed in the matchup as they cruised to an 89-44 victory in front of their home crowd.
The Hilltoppers concluded their week traveling to Menomonie for an early Saturday morning (December 7) game against Bloomer at the Northwest Tip-off Classic hosted by UW-Stout. Unlike their game versus Cornell, the hot shooting Toppers cooled off and shot less than 40 percent from the field and never led falling by a final of 72-53.
Glenwood City (1-1) opens conference play December 12 when they host Spring Valley for a 7:15 p.m. tipoff. The Cardinals come into the game with a 1-1 record as they beat Alma/Pepin in their opener and dropped their second game against Altoona.
Cornell
The Hilltoppers jumped on the Chiefs early. Baskets by Brody Olson, Brady Thompson, and Clayton Hoffman gave Glenwood the 7-0 advantage with less than two minutes off the clock.
After Cornell cut the lead to five, another 7-1 run pushed the Hilltoppers to the 14-3 lead. The run was sparked by a pair of Tyler Harrington field goals, including a three pointer from the top of the key to stretch the Hilltopper lead to double digits at 11.
The Hilltoppers and Chiefs played it even for the next ten minutes as Glenwood maintained the 11-point lead with 6:15 left in the first half. However, a Hilltopper 16-4 run over the final six minutes of the half put the Hilltoppers comfortably ahead at half-time.
Harrington’s three pointer started the run and a put back by Ben Klatt put the Hilltoppers up 35-21. After buckets by Olson, Mitchel Main, and Harrington put Glenwood up 44-23, Olson put an exclamation point on the half with a dunk to end the half’s scoring with the Hilltoppers up 46-23.
The second half started with both teams scoring back and forth as the Hilltoppers maintained a comfortable lead at 65-38 with 11 minutes left in the game. Even though they were up 27 points, the hot shooting Hilltoppers closed out the game with a 24-6 run.
Brody Riba and Thompson started the run with back-to-back layups and Tristen Wink drained a three pointer to push the Toppers to the 72-38 lead with 9:30 left in the game. A short jumper by Olson followed by consecutive fast break buckets by Riba pushed the Hilltoppers to the 78-40 lead.
Baskets by Wink, Main, and Klatt down the stretch capped the scoring as the Hilltoppers opened the year with a 89-44 victory.
GLENWOOD CITY’S Brody Riba made this contested shot for two points during a home basketball game versus Cornell December 3. Riba scored 15 points in the Hilltoppers’ 89-44 victory.
—photo by Shawn DeWitt
“Our Cornell game was a good start to the season. We were able to execute on both ends of the floor,” commented Coach Patrick Olson. “It was also a chance for us to face someone else and look at what we need to improve upon.”
Nine Hilltoppers scored on the night with four in double digits. Olson paced the offense with 25 points on 10-of-18 shooting. Riba, Harrington, and Thompson contributed 15, 12, and ten, respectively. Olson also led the team with nine assists and eight rebounds.
Bloomer
The Blackhawks opened scoring on the first possession with a three pointer for the early lead. Glenwood countered with an Olson bucket to bring Glenwood City to within one at 3-2. However, the Hilltopper shooting went cold as Bloomer scored the next nine points to lead 12-2 with only four minutes played in the game.
Thompson ended the Topper scoring drought with a jumper in the lane to pull Glenwood within eight points and trigger a small 6-0 Hilltopper run. Layups by Olson and Riba brought Glenwood to within four points at 12-8. A pair of put-backs, one each by Olson and Wink, kept the Toppers within five points at 17-12 with 8:10 left in the half.
However, the Blackhawks combination of three point shooting and inside dominance proved to be to much for the Hilltoppers to handle down the stretch of the first half. Bloomer outscored the Hilltoppers 17-9 in the final eight minutes to take a 34-21 lead into intermission.
Bloomer opened the second half scoring the first four points to extend their lead to 17 points. A pair of three pointers by Harrington and a layup by Olson kept the Hilltoppers close at 43-29 with 14:00 remaining in the game, but a five-minute stretch in which the Hilltoppers scored only a single bucket doomed their chances.
When Olson hit a three pointer with 9:10 left in the game the Blackhawks had extended their lead to 22 at 56-34. The Hilltoppers were able to trim the Blackhawk lead to under 20 on a 15-foot jumper by Thompson and corner three pointer by Harrington to make the score 58-39.
Another Harrington three pointer cut the Blackhawk led to 60-42, but the Hilltoppers would get no closer and lost 72-53 to even their record at 1-1.
“We had trouble with Bloomer due to their size inside and gave up 44 points in the paint,” indicated coach Olson. “We also were not able to get our transition game going so it limited us.”
For the second time this week, Olson lead the Hilltoppers in points, rebounds, and assists with 19, nine, and six on the night. Harrington added 17 points, including five, three pointers.