Mounder boys earn regular-season sweep over Vikings
By Cara L. Dempski
COLFAX — Village residents in Colfax and Elk Mound can always count on one thing: the night of a rivalry game between the two high schools usually brings a sizable crowd to town.
The gym at Colfax High School was certainly full for the most recent contest between the Vikings’ and Mounders’ boys basketball squads last Tuesday, January 31. Elk Mound traveled to Colfax just one night after taking over the top spot in the Dunn-St. Croix with an impressive 10-point win over the Cardinals in Spring Valley.
The Mounders, who now hold a half game lead over Spring Valley, were tired, and it showed on the court in Colfax. But they were able to pull off 48-39 win against the rival Vikings to earn a sweep of the regular season, home-and-home series.
Viking coach Garrett Maas did not express any disappointment in the loss.
“I’m happy. Very happy,” Maas said. “Things have improved drastically in the past 10 days. We had a little addition by subtraction and we’re playing much better.”
Maas obliquely referred to the loss of senior Aliymu Davis, who was deemed academically ineligible after first-semester grades were released, and is no longer on the team. The Colfax coach did say, however, that his Vikings seemed to run out of gas, and it hurt to not have the team’s usual depth.
Colfax junior Marcus Reisdorf was out of the game, and Maas believes likely out the rest of the season, after spraining his ankle during the school day on January 30, which required the Vikings to explore other options from the bench. Maas is hoping Luke Heidorn, a sophomore, and Ed Hydukovich, a freshman, will be able to provide backup for Colfax’s five starters.
On the Elk Mound side, coach Mike Kessler said he could tell the team’s legs were tired from the battle against Spring Valley the night before, but he did not want the Mounders to use fatigue as an excuse for a poorly-executed opening half.
It took nearly a minute before either team scored, and then it was Elk Mound’s Dane Lew who put in a shot from the top of the key for three points at 17:02. Nearly a minute later, Viking Jacob Larson nailed a field goal to make the score 3-2. George Scharlau then gave Colfax a lead with an outside shot for three to give the Vikes a 5-3 lead.
Dane Lew responded with a pair of free shots to even the score at five and then put in another three-point shot to give the Mounders an 8-5 lead with 12:40 to go in the half. Scharlau sent in a second big shot for three points to make the score 8-8, and Mounder Noah Zurbuchen pushed in a three-pointer to give Elk Mound the lead again, 11-8.
The two teams continued to test each other throughout the first half, but the Vikings took the upper hand with a field goal from Larson at 30.9 to take a 21-20 lead into halftime.
Kessler said he was proud of the way the Mounders turned the game around in the final 18 minutes of the game.
“I was really proud of the way our kids responded after what was a relatively disappointing first half,” the Elk Mound coach explained. “I gave them a ‘fire ‘em up’ speech at halftime, because sometimes you need to go into the locker room and challenge the boys.”
The Mounders opened the second half with a foul against senior Chandler Schreiber. The Elk Mound player put in only one of two charity shots, but it was enough to knot the score at 21 points before 30 drained off the clock. The Mounders went on a 15-0 run before the Vikings could score any buckets in the second half.
Ben Thompson fired in a three-pointer at 8:49 to spark a Colfax scoring drive that would bring the Vikings within four points of Elk Mound before falling behind again at 7:08 after Lew dropped in two from the line for the Mounders to make the score 37-31.
Thompson struck again less than a minute later with another three points to pull within four points a second time, making the score 38-34 with 6:25 to go. Not to be outdone, Mounder Ben Lambele traveled to the other end of the court and put up three of his own to extend Elk Mound’s lead to eight.
From that point on, the Vikings could not seem to pull any closer to the Mounder, trailing by 12 points with only 3:48 left to play. They managed to get back to within nine points, but there just was not enough time for Colfax to close the deal.
Maas saw the loss in a kindly manner.
“We battled Durand to a nine-point loss, and tonight was a nine-point loss,” the Viking coach said. “I think we’ve just got to get over the hump.”
Kessler said his team is focused both on finishing the Dunn-St. Croix strong, but also on continuing to play after the end of the regular season.
“You could tell we had tired legs, but we talked about not making an excuse,” Kessler elaborated. “We hope to do this a couple weekends in March, so we’ve got to get ready.”
Lew was the game’s high-scoring player, taking credit for 19 points on the way to Elk Mound’s total 48. Lambele logged 10 points, Schreiber earned seven, Jameson Rubenzer hit two three-pointers for a total of six, Ryan Mohr scored three, Carter Pritchard logged two, and Dylan Black scored on a free throw.
On the Colfax side, Jacob Larson picked up 14 points, while Thompson and Scharlau tied with 11 each. Adam Pretasky contributed another three points on a single shot after earning a “no shot” for his toes being over the free throw line.
Colfax played at Boyceville High School Thursday, February 3, and took a trip to Plum City last night, February 7. They are scheduled to host Spring Valley this Thursday. The Vikings are scheduled for a Valentine’s Day home contest against Elmwood/Plum City.
Elk Mound traveled to Durand on February 3 before heading to Chetek for a meeting with Chetek-Weyerhaeuser’s Bulldogs on February 6 to wrap up an exhaustive four-game road trip. The Mounders host the Boyceville boys this Thursday, February 9 and Spring Valley next Tuesday, February 14.
ELK MOUND 48, COLFAX 39
Elk Mound………………………..20 28 — 48
Colfax………………………………21 18 — 39
TEAM STATISTICS (FG-FT-F-T)
Elk Mound (18-9-13-48) D. Lew 3-4-4-19, C. Pritchard 1-0-1-2, B. Lambele 2-3-2-10, D. Black 0-1-1-1, C. Schreiber 3-1-3-7, J. Rubenzer 0-0-1-6, R. Mohr 0-0-0-3, N. Zurbuchen 0-0-1-0.
Colfax (20-1-9-39) B. Thompson 1-0-2-11, J. Larson 7-0-2-14, G. Scharlau 1-0-1-11, M. Reisdorf 0-0-4-0, A. Pretasky 0-1-0-3.
THREE-POINTERS EM — D. Lew 3, J. Rubenzer 2, R. Mohr 1, B. Lambele 1; C — B. Thompson 3, G. Scharlau 3, A. Pretasky.