EM boys wins conference games over Elmwood-Plum City and Glenwood City
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UNSTOPPABLE — Mounder senior Sam Wenzel (#5) attempted this shot in the paint while being closely guarded by the Hilltoppers’ Brody Olson. Wenzel scored 31 points in the January 19 boys’ basketball game in Glenwood City to lead the Mounders to a 77-67 win over the Hilltoppers. —photo by Shawn DeWitt
After a close loss to then conference co-leader Spring Valley January 11, the Elk Mound boys’ basketball bounced back with a pair of Dunn-St. Croix victories last week to remain in the championship chase.
Hosting Elmwood-Plum City, who had just picked up its first D-SC win of the season against Colfax, on Tuesday, January 16, the Mounder boys used a solid first-half performance to hold off the scrappy Wolves to claim a 58-45 win. Three days later, Elk Mound made the trek to Glenwood City where it posted a 77-67 victory over the host Hilltoppers behind a 31-point performance from senior post player Sam Wenzel.
With those wins, Elk Mound improved to 6-2 in league play, two games behind front running Durand-Arkansaw and a game back of Spring Valley, and 13-2 overall. The Mounders look to add to its three-game win streak with games versus Bloomer and Mondovi this week. Elk Mound was at Bloomer, who is 8-0 in Cloverbelt action and 13-1 overall, Monday, January 22 for a non-conference game and return to D-SC action Thursday when it hosts Mondovi. The Mounders will get a second crack at giving Durand-Arkansaw its first conference loss of the season when they welcome the Panthers next Tuesday, January 30.
Elmwood-Plum City
Fresh off an upset of Colfax the previous Thursday, Elmwood-Plum City was looking to pull off an even bigger one when they played in Elk Mound last Tuesday, January 16.
Elk Mound, however, wasn’t about to let visiting E-PC entertain any hope of a second consecutive conference win at its expense. The Mounders were able to build a ten-point halftime advantage en route to a 58-45 win over the upstart Wolves.
The Mounders led 33 to 23 at the break and finished with a slight scoring advantage in the second half, 25 to 22.
Elk Mound had three players score double figures in the contest. Junior Logan Jerome was the game’s top scorer with 18 points and also led the Mounders with five steals and seven assists. Senior Sam Wenzel finished with 15 points, six rebounds, two steals and a pair of blocked shots. Another junior, Cale Knutson, pocketed a dozen points including three of his team’s eight triples while leading Elk Mound in rebounds and steals with seven and three, respectively.
The Mounders finished the game 22-for-62 shooting including an 8-for-34 effort from beyond the three-point arc and were just 4-of-10 at the foul line.
Elmwood-Plum City also had a trio finish in double digits. Lucas Glaus tallied 14 points and Blake Allen and Logan Auth each had ten.
The Wolves finished 16-for-37 on field goals including 5-for-18 from three-point range. E-PC sank eight of its 12 free throws.
LONG-RANGE SHOT — Mounder junior Logan Jerome (#3) attempted this three-point shot from the corner during a Dunn-St. Croix boys’ basketball game in Glenwood City Friday, January 19. Jerome made the trey and finished with 14 points in the Mounders’ 77-67 victory.
—photo by Shawn DeWitt
Glenwood City
The Hilltoppers were unable to contain Sam Wenzel when the Mounders visited Glenwood City Friday, January 19.
Elk Mound’s senior post player broke loose for 31 points, including 17 first-half points that included a pair of three pointers, to lead his team to a 77-67 victory over Glenwood City.
“Sam was incredible tonight. He was aggressive throughout the game and carried us on the offensive side of the ball,” stated Chris Hahn, Elk Mound head coach.
“The rest of the team did a great job of recognizing the mismatch for us in the post and they continued to feed the ball to Sam,” he added.
Besides Wenzel’s 17-point, opening-half effort, senior Kaden Russo and junior Logan Jerome added nine and eight points, respectively, as the Mounders took a 37-30 lead into the locker room.
The Hilltoppers did take a lead in the second half, but Russo and Jerome, along with Wenzel, continued to contribute scores as Elk Mound eventually outpointed Glenwood City 40 to 37 for the ten-point win.
Russo finished with 17 and Jerome 14 points.
“Logan and Kaden also did a nice job of getting us some baskets, especially a few off of offensive rebounds,” said Hahn.
In the rebounding department, the Mounders held a slight edge, 35 to 30, with Wenzel and Logan each corralling eight and Russo six. Russo led the team with four assists and two steals.
“Defensively we need to be better. Tonight we let them get to a lot spots they wanted to and we didn’t pressure them well, get deflections, or make things uncomfortable for them until the middle of the second half,” Hahn noted.
“Once they took the lead back, we flipped a switch and played really hard. If we don’t find a way to play hard for 36 minutes, eventually we’ll regret that because sometimes you just can’t do enough late in the game to get the lead back,” Hahn concluded.
Glenwood City had four players reach double figures in the game. Tyler Harrington was tops with 15 points, Morgen Eggert and Brody Riba finished with 14 points and Brody Olson had 13.
Both teams made seven threes in the game. Elk Mound finished 14-for-25 at the free throw line while Glenwood City made 10 of its 19 attempts.