Glenwood City boys drop three games in five days
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DRIVE TO THE HOOP — The Toppers’ Anthony Nelson drove to the basket and attempted to get off a shot while Elk Mound’s Sam Wenzel defended on the play. Glenwood City lost the December 6 home contest 69-53. —photo by Shawn DeWitt
Heading into the second week of action, the Hilltoppers boys’ basketball team (0-1) had plenty of opportunities to notch their first win of the season. They played three contests over five days, including two against Dunn-St. Croix conference foes.
On top of the compressed schedule, the squad was also battling some illnesses as head coach Patrick Olson, and various players, would miss games throughout the week that left them shorthanded.
Perhaps due to those hurdles the three games followed a similar script to their opening matchup against Grantsburg; fall behind earlier and battle back in second half. And much like the opening loss, Glenwood City would fall short in all three contests to start the season 0-4.
They opened the week on December 6 hosting Elk Mound. The Hilltoppers trailed by as much as 16 points late in the first half before cutting the Mounder lead to only five midway through the second. However, the rally faltered and Elk Mound held on for the 69-53 victory.
On December 8, Glenwood City traveled to Elmwood to take on Elmwood/Plum City. They faced a 19-point deficit at halftime and managed to outscore the Wolves in the second half but fell 61-45 for their second consecutive conference loss.
The final game of the week saw Glenwood participate in the Northwest Classic at UW-Stout on December 10 for a contest against Cadott. Much like the previous two games the Hilltoppers faced a large first-half hole, trailing 26-10 prior to halftime. They outscored the Hornets 25-12 the remainder of the way but fell short losing 38-35.
“I think the first thing we have to do is focus on our turnover ratio,” indicated Assistant Coach Nathan Hoffman on the team’s slow start. “We had a great start at Elmwood/Plum City, but turnovers plagued us.”
The Hilltoppers have one more chance to get on the winning side of the column prior to the holiday break when they host last season conference co-champion Spring Valley for a 7:15 pm tipoff on December 15.
GLENWOOD CITY senior Elek Anderson prepared to take a long jump shot when the Hilltoppers hosted Elk Mound Tuesday, December 6. Anderson finished with 17 points in a 69-53 loss to the Mounders.
—photo by Shawn DeWitt
Elk Mound
Turnovers and miscues doomed the Hilltoppers when they hosted Elk Mound for the conference opener. The Mounders would use those turnovers (25 on the evening for the Hilltoppers) to open a 10-0 lead at the 15:00 minute mark of the first half.
Tyler Harrington would stem Elk Mouind’s opening run when he hit a three pointer from the corner. Harrington attempted another three pointer minutes later and was fouled and would hit two of three to cut the Mounder lead to eight at 13-5.
Moments later, Harrington would once again find himself open in the corner and drain another three pointer to make the score 15-8.
Anthony Nelson would then get in on the 3-point barrage as he’d bury a triple from the right elbow to cut the Mounder led to 15-11.
However, Mounder Ryan Bartig would hit a three to halt the Toppers and start their own 20-8 run to lead 35-19 with only 1:45 left in the first half.
Even though they were down, the Hilltoppers were not out. Ignited by the inside play of Elek Anderson and timely buckets by his supporting crew, the Hilltoppers were able to cut an 11-point halftime deficit to five on a nifty reverse layup by Max Janson with 8:14 remaining in the game.
Unfortunately, Glenwood City could not get over the hump as Elk Mound finished the game on a 19-8 run to win 69-53.
The Hilltoppers shot well from the field hitting on 54 percent of their shots, including 7-15 from behind the arc. Anderson and Harrington each scored 17 points, while Morgan Eggert pitched in nine.
Elmwood/Plum City
The Hilltoppers got to the Wolves early in this contest. Consecutive baskets by Anthony Nelson on the first two possessions saw Glenwood with the early 4-0 lead.
Max Janson followed up with a seven-foot jumper in the lane after a Wolves’ three pointer to put the lead at 6-3. On the next possession Elek Anderson would drive the lane and hit a jumper to put the lead back to three at 8-5 with less than five minutes played in the game.
However, the Toppers struggled to find the bottom of the net for the remainder of the half. Elmwood/Plum City outscored Glenwood City 32-10 to take a 37-18 advantage into the locker room.
Those struggles continued into the second half as the Wolves opened a 27-point lead past the midpoint of the second half at 56-29.
Glenwood City would chip away at the deficit down the stretch but dropped the game to the Wolves 61-45.
Cadott
Unlike the previous two games, the contest against Cadott at the UW-Stout fieldhouse was a defensive battle. Neither squad shot over 35 percent on the early morning tilt, but the Hornets would find just enough offense to hold on for 38-35 win.
Buckets on consecutive possession early on by Morgan Eggert and Anthony Nelson put the Hilltoppers up 4-2 with just over a minute played.
However, Hilltopper points became scarce over the next twelve minutes as Cadott opened a 26-10 lead at the 5:00 mark of the first half. In normal Hilltopper fashion, they began the long climb back as they held Cadott scoreless the remainder of the half to go into intermission down 26-15.
Max Janson got the Hilltoppers going in second half with a ten-foot jumper on the first possession. From there, three pointers would be the key to the comeback.
Three, three-point shots by Harrington from the left corner, along with a one from Nelson would cut the Cadott lead to only one at 34-33 with 5:24 left in the game. Unfortunately for the Hilltopper, a Nelson jumper was the only offense they could muster down the stretch.
Once again, turnovers played a role in the Topper loss. Twenty-five turnovers on the morning resulted in 19 of the 38 points Cadott scored.
For the second time this week Harrington led the team in scoring. He shot 6-11 (3-6 on hree pointers) on the evening for 15 points.
“Tyler has come off the bench and added a great offensive spark,” indicated Hoffman. “He’s shooting the ball with a lot of confidence.”
Nelson was the only other Topper in double digits with 11.