Mounder boys use second-half surge to beat Spring Valley, sweep E-PC Wolves
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With a Dunn-St. Croix title within reach, the Elk Mound boys’ basketball team needed to win its two conference games last week and get a little help.
The Mounders fulfilled the first part of their objective thanks to a huge second-half rally in Spring Valley February 13 that resulted in a come-from-behind 66-58 victory over the co-leading Cardinals. Elk Mound followed that much-needed victory with another three days later when they traveled to Elmwood and left with a 77-39 win over the Wolves of Elmwood-Plum City.
The victories kept the Mounders in second place with an 11-2 record. Unfortunately, Elk Mound couldn’t get any help to move into a tie for first with Durand-Arkansaw after the Panthers knocked off visiting Spring Valley 57-44 a few days later to improve to 12-1 and maintain their one-game lead over Elk Mound.
The Mounders, who hosted Baldwin-Woodville for an out-of-league game Monday, finish out the conference and regular season Thursday at home against Glenwood City. Meanwhile, Durand-Arkansaw welcomes Boyceville that same evening. Elk Mound will need a victory over Glenwood City and a Durand-Arkansaw loss to tie for the conference championship.
The Mounders, 18-4 overall, did receive a number one seed and a first-round bye in the WIAA Division 3 tournament which gets underway next Tuesday, February 27. Elk Mound will host the winner of the Black River Falls (#9) and Altoona (#8) game on Friday, March 1.
Spring Valley
After Spring Valley defeated the host Mounders, 58-55, back on January 11, Elk Mound returned the favor last Tuesday as it scored 44 points in the second half to overcame a seven-point halftime deficit and left the Cardinals’ gym February 13 with a hard-earned 66-58 win and split of the season series.
The win pulled the Mounders even with the Cardinals as both sat with 10-2 records at the time.
Junior forward Logan Jerome had a monster game as he scored 27 points in the victory including 19 in that decisive second half. Senior post player Sam Wenzel finished with 19, the only other Mounder in double figures.
“Logan was outstanding tonight. He hit big shot after big shot, rebounded extremely well, and was disruptive on defense,” sated Chris Hahn, Elk Mound head coach. “He has such a high ceiling in basketball and he’s starting to put it all together. His second half of the season has been off the charts good and he’s playing with a lot of confidence.”
“Tonight was a great high school basketball game,” added Hahn. “In the first half, we struggled to keep Spring Valley out of the paint and they got some easy looks that led to a seven-point halftime lead for them.”
Despite nine points from Wenzel and a pair of threes and eight points by Jerome with another triple by Grandt Mueller, Spring Valley led 29-22 at the intermission.
“Sam was struggling to get clean looks in the first half, so we moved him to the perimeter and allowed him to have the opportunity to attack off the dribble. That seemed to help get him going,” added Hahn.
Wenzel added four inside hoops and a pair of free throws after halftime, but it was Jerome that gave the Cardinals fits all throughout the second half. Jerome, who finished the contest with seven of the Mounders’ ten three-point baskets, dropped in five in the second half alone and added two more deuces to lead the Mounder rally which saw them outscore the Cardinals 44 to 29 over the final 18 minutes of action.
Cale Knutson scored all six of his points in the final half on a three, a two pointer and a free toss. Senior Kaden Russo, who had just a pair of free throws in the first half, added a hoop and two more freebies to also finish with six points and Zane Brice made a triple for his only points in the game. Elk Mound finished 7-for-15 from the foul line.
Hahn said his team did a great job of defending Spring Valley’s top two players – Jameson Bauer and Cade Stasiek. Bauer finished with only six but Stasiek led his team with 17 points including a trio of triples in the second half.
“Cade is such a great player and he still got to 17 points, but I thought we defended him well,” stated Hahn. “He just hit some incredibly difficult shots. He’s one of the best guards in the area.”
Russo, Jerome and Wenzel led the Mounders in rebounding with eight, seven and five, respectively. Russo and Wenzel each had four assists and Jerome led with three steals.
Beside Stasiek’s 17-point performance, Diego Schmitt had ten of the Cardinals and Masyn Wolf finished with nine. Spring Valley finished with five triples and made nine of 13 free tosses.
Elmwood-Plum City
Elk Mound’s offense was still in high gear when it played in Elmwood last Friday evening, February 16.
The Mounders sprinted to a 39-24 halftime lead over the host Wolves of Elmwood-Plum City and cruised to the 77-39 win.
After Jerome put in 27 against Spring Valley three days earlier, senior Kaden Russo dropped 27 on the Wolves after finishing 4-for-9 behind the three-point arc and five-for-five at the charity stripe. He was complimented by 16 points each from Logan Jerome and Cale Knutson and 13 by Sam Wenzel.
In all, Elk Mound was 10-for-28 from three-point land and 7-for-10 at the line.
No statistical information for the Wolves was available prior to Monday’s deadline.