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Spring Valley’s 61-39 drubbing of then-undefeated Dunn-St. Croix Conference rival Durand on Friday, Feb. 11, was a season-defining win for head coach Rob Bosshart’s experienced varsity squad.

Going into the game, Spring Valley had a nearly perfect 8-1 conference record. The only Dunn-St. Croix loss was against Durand on Tuesday, Dec. 7, the Cardinals’ third game of the year. As for Durand, the Panthers entered the game with an undefeated 10-0 record in conference play and were looking to secure a conference title with a victory.

The Friday night contest between Spring Valley and Durand was their second meeting of the season. In the first, Spring Valley star forward Connor Ducklow missed the game because of an injury sustained during the football season. He immediately impacted the game during their second matchup.

After the opening tip, Ducklow and the Spring Valley starters executed nine of the best minutes they’ve played all season. It began with two layups for the Cardinals; one by senior Brady Bednarek and the other by the aforementioned Ducklow to take a 4-0 lead. A threepointer by senior Coy Stasiek made Spring Valley’s lead 7-0 less than two minutes into the game.

Durand head coach Justin Redetzke called a timeout to attempt to slow Spring Valley’s momentum. However, the scoring continued for the Cardinals. Coming out of the timeout, Spring Valley made a layup, got a stop on the defensive end, and then Ducklow buried a deep three-pointer to take a 12-0 lead.

By the nine-minute mark in the first half, Spring Valley led 20-1, a sustained scoring run that forced another Durand timeout. Coach Bosshart credited multiple factors for the opening scoring salvo.

“We knew that they weren’t going to continue to shoot like that, but our intensity level on defense was good,” Bosshart said. “We had really good help and rotations on defense because (Simon) Bauer can penetrate on anybody, (Gunnar) Hurlburt is a handful. We knew that everybody was going to have to do their job and they did. They didn’t shoot well, and there are some reasons for that, but we gave them a bit of pressure.”

The Cardinals’ defense was so suffocating that Durand didn’t make its first field goal of the game until just under nine minutes remained in the first half. The Cardinals’ stellar play paved the way for Spring Valley to take a 31-13 lead into the halftime intermission.

Playing with a huge lead in a game that would go on to likely decide a season can put a lot of pressure on high school kids. In the second half, Durand made small scoring runs that could have impacted Spring Valley’s confidence. Coach Bosshart said his team didn’t waver when it happened, and that previous varsity experience was critical in the team’s success on Friday night.

“I think that was all about experience,” Bosshart said of his senior-laden roster. “Coming into the game, as far as being able to handle, there is a lot of talk leading up to the game for the last week or two. Like last night in Glenwood City, we were down four points eight minutes into the game, and nobody lost their composure. We came back and had a nice run before halftime. There is no substitute for that senior leadership.”

The senior leadership was instrumental, not only in the dominant first half but also in maintaining the second-half lead in the closing minutes. Senior guard Tyler Bowman finished with 16 points and Ducklow tallied 20. The duo of Bowman and Ducklow accounted for nearly 60% of Spring Valley’s offense. Bosshart spoke about what they do for his team.

“They’re both just very dynamic,” Bosshart said after the win. “Connor (Ducklow) can step outside, but you can see he’s really a horse inside and Tyler (Bowman) is our leading rebounder. Last night (against Glenwood City) he had 11 rebounds and he’s been hovering right around that all year long. He’s not afraid to go inside and mix it up. When we can get the right matchups, it’s really nice for us.”

Spring Valley’s 61-39 victory moved the Cardinals to within a half game of Durand’s lead in the Dunn-St. Croix Conference standings. The win improved the Cardinals’ conference standing to 9-1 for the season, while the loss dropped Durand to 10-1. Because of a game rescheduled earlier this season, Spring Valley has one more conference game remaining than Durand.

If Spring Valley wins its last four games, the Cardinals can – at the very least – tie Durand for the conference title. Bosshart remains consistent in saying that his team approaches each game one at a time.

“All we’re really focused on is that next game because they all count the same,” Bosshart said. “It doesn’t matter who you’re playing, a win is a win, and a loss is a loss. At this point, we’ve got to try to get them all.”

While Bosshart continued to downplay how critical the win was to the season, the standings made it clear. A loss to Durand on Friday night would have made winning a conference title nearly impossible. Now, it’s Spring Valley’s most likely outcome.

Up next for the Cardinals is a Tuesday, Feb. 15, when Bosshart’s squad hosts Colfax, a middling team in the conference that is below .500 for the season. That game is slated to begin at 7:15 p.m.

Senior Brady Bednarek of the Spring Valley boys basketball team plays defense on Durand guard Simon Bauer. Bednarek and the Cardinals were phenomenal defensively in the opening nine minutes of the game. _________________ ________