Elk Mound boys’ basketball bombs Black River Falls and Mondovi to stay perfect
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The Elk Mound boys’ basketball squad won a pair of lopsided contests last week including its conference opener.
Hosting Black River Falls in non-conference action Monday evening, December 4, Elk Mound won convincingly 72-40. Three days later, the Mounders traveled to Mondovi where they overwhelmed the Buffaloes 67-17 in the Dunn-St. Croix Conference opener for both teams.
With those two victories, Elk Mound improved to 4-0 and 1-0 start in conference play.
The Mounder boys will look to add another pair of D-SC wins this week. They visited Durand-Arkansaw Tuesday and host Boyceville this Friday.
Black River Falls
In a final tune-up before conference play got underway later in the week, Elk Mound dominated a visiting squad from Black River Falls as it turned a 14-point halftime advantage into a 32-point victory.
The final score had the Mounders with 72 points to the Tigers 40.
“We had much better energy in the first half tonight,” stated Mounder head coach Chris Hahn. “I thought we played inspired on the defensive end of the floor.”
Senior Kaden Russo had a stellar offensive performance for the Mounders. He finished the evening with a game high 24 points including 16 in the first half that saw Elk Mound take a 38-24 lead in to the locker room. Russo tallied six of his team’s nine three-point makes.
“Kaden Russo played very well tonight. He hit a number of open shots, took the ball hard to the rim, and attacked the offensive glass. He’s been putting in a lot of time before and after practice to work on his individual skills and it’s making a huge difference early in the season,” Hahn said.
After making four triples in the opening half of action, Russo made two more in the second half and Parker Dutzle and Caleb Beskow each added a basket from behind the three-point arc in that final stanza as the host Mounders tacked on another 34 points while holding the Tigers to just 16.
Logan Jerome and Sam Wenzel chipped in for ten points as each made four deuces and both of their free throw attempts. Grandt Mueller tallied eight points on four, two-point hoops.
Elk Mound held a decisive advantage on the boards, hauling in 41 total rebounds to just 16 by Black River Falls. Lucas Johnson led the Mounders with nine rebounds, Wenzel and Mueller each had six, Jerome five and four each by Dutzle, Russo and Cale Knutson.
The Mounders finished 29-for-68 shooting including 9-of-28 from behind the 3-point arc and were 5-for-5 at the free throw. They did however turn the ball over 16 times.
“On the offensive side of the ball, we still had too many turnovers. Unfortunately, many of them were unforced, live-ball turnovers that led to some easy buckets for the other team,” Hahn added.
Although Black River Falls had eight players score in the game, Braylon Backaus was the only one to finish in double digits with ten points. The Tigers hit six triples in 21 attempts, went 8-for-13 at the charity stripe and finished with 22 turnovers.
Mondovi
Elk Mound’s Dunn-St. Croix opener at Mondovi Thursday, December 7 was not much of a contest at all.
The Mounders dominated on both ends of the court.
Elk Mound shot nearly 50 percent from the field including a 7-for-21 performance from behind the 3-point arc and were near perfect at the free throw line as it made eight of nine attempts. Defensively, the Mounders held the Buffaloes to just six made buckets in 32 attempts which included an 0-for-14 effort from three-point land, forced 32 turnovers and came away with 16 steals in the game.
The Mounders lead 35 to 6 at the intermission with Sam Wenzel scoring 12 of his game high 18 points in the first half and made six of his seven free throw attempts.
“We did a great job of coming out with a lot of energy in the first half. Defensively we pressured the ball well without fouling and we were able to play fast and take care of the ball. They matched up one on one with Sam in the post and we were able to take advantage of that throughout the first half. We’re starting to do a good job of identifying what the defense is going to give us and working through our offense to get those great shots. That’s a sign of an unselfish team that wants to win!” stated Hahn.
Elk Mound posted another 32 points in the second half while limiting Mondovi to just 11 to take a 67-17 win.
Besides Wenzel’s 18, Logan Jerome and Grandt Mueller each added 11. Mueller and Parker Dutzle each had two triples for Elk Mound which finished with seven, Caleb Beskow, Zane Brice and Jerome also tallied a three.
Mueller, Wenzel, and Lucas Johnson led in rebounds with eight, seven and six, respectively. Johnson also led with five steals while Russo tallied a trio of assists and steals.
“Lucas Johnson played an excellent game for us. His energy off the bench is contagious. He has been playing so hard every second he’s on the floor,” said Hahn. “He gets deflections, loose balls, and lots of rebounds. So much of what he does doesn’t always show up in the box score, but the things he does are extremely important to win big games!”
Cadyn Deden led Mondovi with five points while Jake Linse and Landon Clark had four each.