Elk Mound earn sweet Valentine’s Day victory against Cardinals, cage Wolves

By Cara L. Dempski

ELK MOUND — There are probably plenty of Elk Mound basketball fans who would love to know what head boys’ coach Mike Kessler says to the team during halftime breaks at every game.

Because every time the Mounder boys have a rough first half, they come back out and find a way to put the game away in the closing half.

Such was the case in the February 14 home game against Spring Valley. The Cardinals clearly showed up at Elk Mound High School to play, and win, against the team that scored an 11-point victory over them at the first season meeting between the Cards and Mounders. 

But Elk Mound ground down the Cards in the second half to pick up a 62-52 win to stand alone atop the Dunn-St. Croix. Spring Valley, meanwhile, dropped into second place, a game behind the Mounders. 

Three days later, the Mounders welcomed Elmwood/Plum City to their home hardwood on February 17. Elk Mound closed it’s second-to-last week of regular-season play by earning a hard-fought 49-42 victory against the Elmwood/Plum City squad.

With the two wins, the Mounders improved to 12-1 in the D-SC, and hold an overall record of 16-4. 

The Mounders, who finished the regular season with a pair of home games this week, played a non-conference contest against Altoona on February 20, and can claim their second consecutive undisputed Dunn-St. Croix boys’ basketball championship with a win over Glenwood City this Thursday, February 23.

Elk Mound, the third-seed in the lower half of the Division 3 Menomonie Sectional, has a first round bye and host the sixth-seeded Altoona Railroaders in a regional semifinal contest this Friday, March 3. The winner will play in the regional championship the following day.

Spring Valley

The key word in Elk Mound’s second contest versus Rob Bosshart’s Spring Valley squad was patience.

“We knew it was certainly going to be a battle. They’re (Spring Valley) a tremendous basketball team,” Elk Mound coach Mike Kessler said. “We really wanted to be patient offensively, really work the ball around, and ramp up the pressure.”

It was a tactic the Mounders seemed to have difficulty with in the first 18 minutes of their February 14 home contest, which allowed the Cardinals to push the game pace and take a 31-26 lead into halftime.

The Elk Mound shooters apparently took a deep breath and regrouped in the locker room during the 10-minute break, because the team that stepped back onto the court for the final half was more poised, and patient, than the team that trailed by five before the break.

The Mounders got on the board with shots from Ben Lambele and Dane Lew to open the game and go up 4-0 before Boisen hit a three-pointer to put up Spring Valley’s first points at the 14:56 mark. The teams traded scoring possessions until 5:50 to go in the first.

Then, the Cardinals’ Patrick Cipriano nailed two consecutive three-point shots to even the score at 18 and then lift the Cardinals to 21-18 for their first lead of the game. Spring Valley used the momentum shift to its advantage and extended its lead to five points seven points with less than a minute to play in the first half. Elk Mound’s Chandler Schreiber dropped in a field goal for two with 15.8 seconds left to play, narrowing the scoring gap to 31-26 as the buzzer sent both teams to their locker rooms.

Boisen opened the second half with an outside shot for three before 10 seconds had even passed, and the Cardinals shifted to 34-26. It was the last time the Spring Valley squad would score for over two minutes.

Lew added five points to Elk Mound’s score, and then Carter Pritchard dropped in a field goal for two to make the score 34-33 with Spring Valley still on top and 15:17 left to play.

Cardinal Blake Klatt hit a two-point shot at 14:25 to push the Spring Valley lead to three points again, but Elk Mound’s Dylan Black hit a two-point shot to make the score 36-35, and less than a minute later, Jameson Rubenzer found the bottom of the net from the top of the key to give Elk Mound the lead again with a score of 38-36.

From that point on, the Mounders just stayed patient, with a few possessions running anywhere from 40 seconds to one minute in length. In the end, the poise paid off, and Elk Mound ended the game firmly in first place of the D-SC boys’ race.

Dane Lew led the game, and Mounders, with 22 points. Schreiber logged 14 points, Ben Lambele contributed 10, Noah Zurbuchen earned nine, Jameson Rubenzer picked up three, and Dylan Black and Carter Pritchard tied with two points each.

Klatt and Boisen tied with 12 points apiece to lead the Cardinals in scoring.

SPRING VALLEY 52, ELK MOUND 62

Spring Valley……………………..31  21 — 52
Elk Mound………………………..26  36 — 62

TEAM-STATISTICS (FG-FT-F-T)

Spring Valley (10-8-15-52) A. Borgerding 1-3-4-5, Z. Boisen 0-0-3-12, P. Cipriano 1-2-2-10, D. Bosshart 0-3-3-6, S. Borgerding 2-0-3-7, B. Klatt 6-0-0-12.

Elk Mound (18-17-11-62) D. Lew 8-3-0-22, C. Pritchard 1-0-3-2, B. Lambele 4-2-4-10, D. Black 1-0-0-2, C. Schreiber 2-7-0-14, J. Rubenzer 0-0-0-3, N. Zurbuchen 2-5-4-9.

THREE-POINTERS SV — Z. Boisen 4, P. Cipriano 2, D. Bosshart 1, S. Borgerding 1; EM — D. Lew 1, J. Rubenzer 1, C. Schreiber 1.

Elmwood/Plum City

If the Mounders clinched their status at the top of the conference against Spring Valley, then they solidified their chances to win the Dunn-St. Croix outright with a 49-42 win over the Wolves of Elmwood/Plum City on February 17.

“It was a hard-fought game. Elmwood/Plum City played really tough,” Coach Kessler said. “Dane Lew got into foul trouble early, and never really got into the flow of the game offensively.”

The Wolves trailed by three points with a 27-24 score at halftime, but could only muster another 18 points in the second half. Elk Mound score another 22 in the second half to earn the win.

Despite the loss of the big man early in the game, Kessler said some of the other guys really stepped up to fill the gap left by Lew.

Senior Carter Pritchard had a big night. He earned Elk Mound’s top score of 14 points. Ben Lambele earned 10 points toward the team total, Chandler Schreiber picked up nine, Noah Zurbuchen logged seven points, Ryan Mohr recorded five, Dylan Black had three, and Dane Lew picked up one.

Elmwood/Plum City’s Luke Baier held the game’s top score with 15 points.

ELMWOOD/PLUM CITY 42, ELK MOUND 49
Elmwood/Plum City……………24  18 — 42
Elk Mound………………………..27  22 — 49

TEAM STATISTICS (FG-FT-F-T)

Elmwood/Plum City (10-4-18-42) A. Ebensperger 0-0-4-0, S. Hoyt 0-0-2-9, W. Holt 0-0-0-3, B. Glaus 0-0-3-6, T. Maxwell 0-2-2-2, K. Heit 1-0-0-2, L. Baier 7-1-4-15, C. Hinrichs 2-1-2-5.

Elk Mound (9-16-17-49) D. Lew 0-1-4-1, C. Pritchard 2-1-1-14, J. Rubenzer 0-0-1-0, R. Mohr 0-5-0-5, B. Lambele 4-2-4-10, D. Black 0-0-0-3, N. Zurbuchen 2-3-2-7, C. Schreiber 1-4-5-9.

THREE-POINTERS EPC — S. Hoyt 3, W. Holt 1, B. B Glaus 2; EM — C. Pritchard 3, D. Black 1, C. Schreiber 1.