Elk Mound boys down G-E-T in overtime, sweep Boyceville Bulldogs
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The Elk Mound boys’ basketball team won a pair of recent road games including a Dunn-St. Croix contest in convincing fashion.
The Mounders wrapped up its pre-holiday slate as it avenged last year’s lopsided regional home loss to Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau (G-E-T) with a 65-60 overtime win on the Red Hawks’ court in the Friday, December 22 out-of-league contest.
Following the Christmas break, the Elk Mound boys returned to league action as they traveled to Boyceville last Thursday, December 28 for their second Dunn-St. Croix game versus the Bulldogs in two weeks. For the second consecutive time in as many weeks, Elk Mound blew out Boyceville winning 69-29.
With those wins, the Mounders improved to 3-1 in conference games and 7-1 overall.
Elk Mound opened the 2024 portion of its schedule at home against Altoona last night (Tuesday, January 2). The Mounders play at rival Colfax Friday and go to Fall Creek next Monday, January 8.
Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau
After being blown out by 32 points on its home court by Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau in last season’s Division 3 regional semifinal, Elk Mound had a score to settle and something to prove when it traveled to Galesville December 22 for a re-match with the Red Hawks.
Led by senior duo of Kaden Russo and Sam Wenzel, who each poured in a team-leading 26 points, Elk Mound avenged that loss with a 65-60 overtime triumph over G-E-T, who lost for just the second time in ten game this season.
Russo’s and Wenzel’s offensive performances helped to offset the 35 points the Red Hawks got from its star player Cody Schmitz. In that March 4 regional contest, Schmitz finished with 45 points that included five of his team’s nine threes and a 6-for-6 effort at the free throw line.
“We played a great game. Our defensive intensity and focus was the best it’s been this year. We were able to get a lot of deflections, which led to forcing them into 19 turnovers. We also did a great job communicating where Cody was throughout the game, and even though he finished with 35 points, I thought we did a great job of making him shoot difficult shots,” stated Elk Mound head coach Chris Hahn.
The host Red Hawks held a slim 30-28 advantage over the Mounders at halftime.
But, Russo and Wenzel coupled with solid defensive game play helped Elk Mound outpoint G-E-T 26-24 in the second half and force overtime when the score was tied at 54 at the end of regulation play. In that overtime period, the Mounders outscored their opponent 11 to 6 to claim the five-point victory.
“On the offensive side of the ball, Sam and Kaden carried us throughout the game. It was a physical game, but Sam never backed down. He continued to attack the basket and even when he got bumped, he never let it rattle him. Kaden hit some difficult three pointers tonight and they were often very timely because there were some offensive droughts we had at different times in the game and his buckets got us back on track. I was happy with our shot selection as a team tonight. No one forced any shots,” added Hahn.
Russo finished with five of Elk Mound’s eight three-point baskets and was 5-for-6 at the foul line. Wenzel shot 11-for-18 from the field, many of which came from inside the paint, and made four of his seven foul shots.
Logan Jerome and Cale Knutson were the only other Elk Mound players to put points on the scoreboard. Jerome netted seven points which included a triple while Knutson sank two from three-point land to finish with six.
The Mounder coach also credited Brady Amble with an excellent game that included some key deflections in overtime that led to steals
“He handled their pressure well and had zero turnovers in a physical game. I was very impressed with his play,” noted Hahn.
Although Elk Mound was outboarded 36 to 21, the Mounders made up for it with their quick hands coming away with 18 steals compared to just four by the Red Hawks.
Wenzel corralled a team-high seven rebounds and had three steals, Jerome tallied six boards and four steals and Russo led the team with seven steals and added four rebounds. Knutson and Jerome were top in assists with four each.
Schmitz finished 12-for-24 shooting for the Red Hawks, was a perfect 7-of-7 on foul shots, led all players in rebounding with 15 and had three of his team’s four steals.
“This was a great team win and one our team was focused on. It’s only one game, so we have to keep that into perspective, but G-E-T is as good of team as there is in our sectional and this gives us the confidence that if we continue to work hard in practice and improve, we can put ourselves in a position to achieve some of our loftier goals,” concluded Hahn.
Boyceville
Just two weeks removed from its 90-48 home trashing of Boyceville, the Mounders delivered another beat down on the Bulldogs as it swept the conference series with a 69-29 road win at the Dog House last Thursday, December 28.
Senior Sam Wenzel led Elk Mound’s offensive attack as he netted 18 of his game-high 21 points (nine deuces and a 3-for-4 effort at the foul line) in the first half. In that opening half, junior Cale Knutson canned a pair of treys and Zane Brice and Kaden Russo also added one three pointer each as the Mounders owned a mind-blowing 44-16 advantage at the intermission.
While Elk Mound let up on the offensive accelerator in the second half it still outpointed Boyceville 15 to 8 en route to claiming a 69-29 victory.
Knutson joined Wenzel in double figures with 11 points. The Mounders finished with six threes and were 7-of-11 at the line.
Senior Grant Kaiser led the Bulldogs, who had a pair of triples and shot just four free throws in the game but made three, with ten points