Mounder boys basketball hits trifecta with wins over GC, Mondovi and Altoona
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ELK MOUND junior Kaden Russo took this shot as he was falling away during the second half of a December 6 Dunn-St. Croix contest in Glenwood City. Russo finished with a team high 17 points in the Mounders’ 69 to 53 win over the Hilltoppers. —photo by Shawn DeWitt
The Elk Mound boys’ basketball team hit the trifecta last week, winning three games, including two on the road, in just a five-day span to improve to 4-1.
What better way to put the first setback of the season in the rearview mirror than to produce a triplet of wins.
And that’s just what the Mounders did.
Beginning with a 69-53 victory over the Hilltoppers in Glenwood City last Tuesday, December 6, Elk Mound tacked on two more wins, besting Mondovi 45-39 at home Thursday, December 8 before finishing off the week with 49-28 non-conference thumping of Altoona in the Northwest High School Tip Off Classic held Saturday, December 10 at Johnson Fieldhouse on the UW-Stout campus in Menomonie which pitted the Dunn-St. Croix squads against their Cloverbelt counterparts.
Elk Mound, which is 2-0 in Dunn-St. Croix action, will play at Durand-Arkansaw this Thursday, December 15 before taking nearly two weeks off for the holidays.
Glenwood City
The Hilltoppers proved to be a scrappy bunch overcoming a handful of double-digit deficits when the Mounder came calling last Tuesday.
But, in the end, Elk Mound proved too much for host Glenwood City to handle as the Mounders pulled away in the waning minutes of the pair’s December 6 game to claim a 69-53 win.
““We did a much better job of using our size advantage and getting paint touches,” said Mounders’ head coach Chris Hahn of the 16-point road victory.
While the Toppers and Mounders were dead even from behind the three-point arc, with seven bombs each, Elk Mound took advantage of 25 Glenwood City turnovers, often turning them into easy points and scoring runs.
PAINT POINTS — The Mounders’ Jerome Delikowski (#35) scored two points in the paint during a conference basketball game in Glenwood City December 6. Delikowski finished with eight points in a 69-53 Mounders’ victory. —photo by Shawn DeWitt
“On the defensive side of the ball, we forced them into 25 turnovers, which was great, but we allowed too many easy buckets because we were out of position or reacted too late. In order for us to win big games, we need to keep the ball out of the paint and prevent teams from getting layups,” added Hahn.
The Mounders opened the contest with a ten-point run highlighted by a pair of Kaden Russo threes. But, the Hilltoppers responded with an 11 to five splurge of their own to make it a 15-11 game with just over ten minutes left in the first half.
Leading just 22-17 with 6:17 remaining, Elk Mound outscored Glenwood City 13-2 over the next five minutes and went into the locker room with a 35-24 lead.
In the early part of the second half, the Mounders extended that advantage to as many as 17 points only to see their host trim it to just five points, 50-45, with 8:12 left in regulation.
Following a timeout, Elk Mound outpointed Glenwood City 19 to 8 the rest of the way to claim the 69-53 win.
Russo, who had 13 in the first half including three triples, finished with 17 points to lead the Mounders’ offense. Ryan Bartig and Cale Knutson teamed up to score 14 points each while Logan Jerome, Aiden Bartholomew and Jerome Delikowski tallied eight apiece.
The Mounders finished a fine 29-for-58 shooting which included 7-of-20 from three-point land but were just 4-for-10 at the free throw line.
Glenwood City had a pair of 17-point performances compliments of senior Elek Anderson and sophomore Tyler Harrington, who canned four of GC’s seven treys. Morgen Eggert added nine and Anthony Nelson six. The Toppers finished 6-for-8 at the line.
Mondovi
Good teams usually pull out the win even when they are not playing well.
That was the case when Mondovi came to the Mound last Thursday, December 8 and gave Elk Mound all they could handle.
Holding just a slim 20-19 lead at the intermission, Elk Mound outscored Mondovi 25-20 in the second half to secure a hard fought 45-39 win.
“Tonight was an important win for us,” stated Coach Hahn. “We battled through not playing well on both sides of the ball.”
“We did a poor job of ending possessions on defense and allowed them 18 offensive rebounds. In addition, they also made ten field goals from inside the paint. On offense, we had 16 turnovers, which was very high in comparison to our other games,” he added.
In the first half, Ryan Bartig sank a triple and three of his four free throws to lead the team with six points in what was a low-scoring first half. Sam Wenzel added two baskets and a free throw for five points and Cale Knutson hit a triple as did Aiden Bartholomew to give Elk Mound a single-point lead at the intermission.
Bartig continued to carry the Mounder offense in the second half hitting on all seven of his charity tosses while he added three baskets to finish with 19 points. Knutson scored two more treys in the second half to finish with nine points. Wenzel and Bartholomew each scored five points.
The Buffaloes’ top shooter, Jared Falkner, finished with a game high 21 points which included three triples and 15 points in the second half. Max Marten added 11.
Elk Mound finished the evening 14-for-42 from the field and five-of-20 on three pointers. The Mounders shot 18 free throws making a dozen.
Mondovi, meanwhile, was just 16-for-61 shooting on the night including 4-for-27 on three-point attempts. The Buffaloes were perfect from the charity strip where they took just three shots.
Altoona
An early scoring run helped boost the Mounder boys to a 49-28 win over Altoona in the Northwest Tip Off Classic held Saturday, December 10 at the Johnson Fieldhouse on the UW-Stout campus.
Opening with a 13-0 run against Altoona, Elk Mound never trailed in a contest that it won by 21 points.
“I thought our defense played an all around solid game. We limited their second chance opportunities and kept them out of the paint pretty much all night,” stated Hahn.
“Anytime you only give up 28 points, you’re going to win nearly all of those games, regardless of how you play on offense. We were very secure with the ball, only turning it over five times,” he added.
Senior Ryan Bartig scored a pair of two-point hoops and was three-of-four at the free throw stripe for seven of the Mounders’ 24, first-half points. Junior Sam Wenzel added a pair of buckets for four points and sophomore Cale Knutson and senior Aiden Bartholomew each made a three in the opening half.
Wenzel and Bartig led the second-half offensive charge. In the that half, Wenzel netted four, two-point baskets and a free toss to lead the team with 14 points while Bartig made three of his four free throws and a hoop to tally seven in the final frame and finished with 11 points overall.
“Sam Wenzel played exceptionally well. Our guards did a great job of getting him post touches and he was finally aggressive at attacking the rim. We need him to become an aggressive scorer for us to win the games we want to win,” Hahn said.
Keaton Camastral was the top scorer for the Railroaders hitting a pair of first half treys to finish with 11 points.
The Mounders finished 18-for-53 shooting including 4-for-22 behind the arc and were 9-for-15 at the line. Russo corralled ten of Elk Mound’s 32 rebounds.