Elk Mound boys derail Altoona, cage Stanley-Boyd to earn regional title

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ELK MOUND — The Elk Mound boys’ basketball team is headed back to the sectional tournament after capturing its second straight WIAA Division 3 regional championship with a pair of home victories last Friday and Saturday nights, March 6 and 7.

But, it wasn’t easy!

The Mounders, the number one seed in the lower half bracket of the Somerset Sectional, needed everything they had to squeeze past Altoona and Stanley-Boyd, to earn its sectional berth. Elk Mound had beaten both squads in December, but even back then each proved a difficult win.

After a first-round bye, Elk Mound faced Altoona, who it had previously beaten 71-61 just two days after Christmas, in the regional semifinal for a second consecutive postseason. The eighth-seeded Rails, an 89-77 winner over number nine Omro in the March 4 regional opener, certainly didn’t play like a team that had finished last in a tough Middle Border
Conference at 3-11 and was just 8-17 heading into Friday night’s contest.

Elk Mound never led by more than six points in the game and had to overcome a late Altoona advantage to earn a 63-60 victory.

Junior post Victor Noller dropped 22 points in that contest including a pair of triples to lead a trio of double-digit Mounder scorers that also  included seniors Logan Jerome and Kameron Diermeier who finished with 16 and 11 points, respectively.

Noller, Jerome and Diermeier each scored in double figures once again the following evening as they carried Elk Mound to yet another tight win, this time over Cloverbelt West member Stanley-Boyd. The Mounders held off a late rally by the Orioles (15-12, 5th-place finisher in the Cloverbelt West), who got to within a point with just over a minute to play, to claim a 49-44 win and their second consecutive Division 3 regional championship and first for the Mounders’ first-year head coach Dennis Arneson. The Mounders had also beaten the Orioles 51-48 in their second game of the regular season.

Elk Mound, now 22-4, will take on the sixth-seeded Berlin Indians (17-9) who upset host and number two Bloomer in their regional final last Saturday, in the sectional semifinal slated for this Wednesday night, March 12 at the La Crosse Center.

Elk Mound defeated Berlin 66-46 in last year’s regional final. This year, the Indians finished fourth in the East Central Conference with a 6-6 mark.

Altoona

Head coach Dennis Arneson knew his Mounders would have to contain Altoona sophomores Owen Gunderson and Graysen Becker if they were going to control the game and get the win.

For the most part, Elk Mound was able to do that, holding Gunderson to just a pair of second-half triples and 16 points while also keeping Becker’s bucket attacks in check as he finished with 13.

But, Rails’ senior Myles Sinette went off for 20 points that included a trio of three pointers in the opening stanza that set the stage for a nail-biting finish that saw the Mounders prevail 63-60. 

“Our game plan was to contain Gunderson on the three-point line and keep Becker form attacking the hoop,” noted Coach Arneson. “We did a great job on those two, but Sinette went and got his.”   

Noller gave Elk Mound a quick 6-0 advantage as he used baby hooks in the paint to net baskets on the team’s first three possessions.

Connor Gower’s hoop put Altoona on the scoreboard, only to have Noller sink his fourth straight hoop from the paint for an 8-2 Mounder lead.

Sinette followed with the first of his three triples and Gunderson hit a fadeaway off a rebound to make it a one-point contest. 

Kameron Diermeier drove the baseline for a basket, only to have Sinette answer with his second three to knot the game at ten.

Noller canned his first three to put Elk Mound back in front by three, but Altoona responded with a pair of hoops to take its first lead. Diermeier sparked an 8-1 Mounders’ run with his only three-point basket of the game as the Mounders built another six-point lead, 21-15.

The Rails narrowed their deficit to two points with a basket and two foul shots. Noller put it back to four points with yet another nifty baby hook. Sinette, however, swished his third trey of the half to pull the Rails within a point at 23-22.

Jerome gave Elk Mound a three-point push with a 14-foot jumper only to have Altoona tie the game with a basket and free throw. The teams were again tied at 27 and entered the halftime break even at 31.

Altoona scored the first two hoops of the second stanza, but Noller continued to dominate as he hit a crowd-pleasing three pointer and followed it with two from the paint to put the Mounder back in front 36-35.

Gunderson finally hit his first three and the Rails had the lead again. A nice baseline jumper by Jerome deadlocked the score.

The teams battled back-and-forth over the next few possessions until Noller made his second triple of the game and half that sparked an 8-point run that put Elk Mound ahead by six points at 48-42. A Rails’ basket was followed by a Noller move inside for two and the Mounder lead was back to six.

Altoona, however, just would not go away. Despite a pair of baskets by Noller and Jerome and a much needed three pointer off the hands of senior Cale Knutson who was a bit under the weather.

Gunderson converted on back-to-back Altoona possessions which included a three pointer that gave the visitors a 60-59 lead with under two minutes to play.

Fortunately, Gunderson’s triple were the last points the Rails scored.

Freshman Zeb Robinson, who had an triple earlier in the half, scored on a nifty drive to the basket to put the Mounders back in the lead to stay. Diermeier converted a pair of free tosses to make it 63-60 with 50 seconds to play. And when Altoona came up short on a pair of three-point attempts in the waning second, Elk Mound held on for the three-point victory.

Besides Noller’s 22 points, 16 from Jerome and 11 by Diermeier, Robinson tallied seven, Knutson five and Parker Dutzle had a deuce. Elk Mound finished 3-for-5 at the charity stripe, but made six triples.

The trio of Sinette, Gunderson, and Becker accounted for 49 of the Rails 60 points. Altoona  was 5-for-10 at the line and had five three pointers.

Stanley-Boyd

Stanley-Boyd’s 15-12 record was  a bit deceiving as some of those dozen defeats were at the hands of upper echelon squads while others were by just a few points including both games against Cloverbelt West champion Bloomer.

The Orioles, seeded fifth, challenged the Mounders from Saturday night’s regional championship tipoff to the final horn.

Stanley-Boyd took an 11-5 lead to open the contest, but a Noller triple from the top of the circle sparked a 9-0 Mounder scoring run that included a Diermeier steal for an end-to-end basket followed by hard-driving layups from Jerome and Noller.

Freshman Josiah Demske scored to end the Mounder run and then Brenner Myers put down a three that had the Orioles  back in front, 16-14. Noller hit a three, Diermeier scored under the basket and Jerome made a pair of free tosses as Elk Mound moved back in front 21-16. A nifty reverse layup by the Orioles’ Logan Gray sent the game to half with the score 21-18 in the Mounders’ favor.

The Orioles used a 7-2 run to open the second half, highlighted by a three pointer, to take a 25-23 advantage. But, Elk Mound went on its own run when Jerome, Diermeier and Robinson connected on shots behind the three-point arc on consecutive possessions to forge a 36-29 advantage.

The Mounders’ lead got as high as eight points when Noller pulled down a rebound and converted it into two points to make it 40-32.

But, the Orioles rallied and narrowed their deficit to two points – 42-40 – on a three-point bucket by Charlie Hoel with two and a half minutes left in regulation play.

Stanley-Boyd had several fouls to give. Three straight Logan Gray fouls finally placed Elk Mound in the bonus. After the final Gray foul, his fourth, Noller went to the free throw line and hit both shots with 1:25 left.

It took all of seven seconds for Myers to pull the Orioles within a point at 44-43 with his third triple of the game.

The Orioles again sent Noller to the line and he calmly made both tosses to put the Mounders up three with just under 48 ticks on the clock.

When Stanley-Boyd misfired on subsequent trips down court, it sent Diermeier and Noller to the line. Both missed the front-end attempts as the lead stayed at three.

Noller would step to the free throw line two more times. He made one of two in the double bonus and then made a pair with 12 seconds left for a 49-43 Mounders’ lead. Oriole Logan Gray tacked on a free throw to make the final count 49-44 in Elk Mound’s favor.

“They (Stanley-Boyd) had 10 turnovers in the game that led to 10 points for us,” said Arneson. “We also had eight points off second-chance opportunities. Our keys were rebounding the basketball and value the ball. Noller was absolutely clutch down the stretch.”

“Most teams will foul post players in pressure situations, but what most don’t know is that both our big guys (Noller and Jerome) are our best two free throw shooters,” concluded Arneson.

Noller led the Mounders scoring attack for the second straight game as he netted 19 points that included two triples and a 7-for-10 performance at the line. Diermeier added 13 and Jerome finished with a dozen points also with a pair of three pointers.

Elk Mound finished with six threes and was 9-for-15 at the line.

Brenner Myers and Josiah Demske led Stanley-Boyd with 11 points each. Hoel added eight, Gray seven and Jackson Gindt finished with six. The Orioles finished 8-for-13 at the line and made four three pointers.