SPRING VALLEY — Elmwood/Plum City took to Spring Valley for a boys basketball game that featured two teams growing with a list of young contributors in a Dunn-St. Croix Conference rivalry matchup. EPC came away on top, scoring efficiently inside to win 65-48 Jan. 15.

The Wolves were strong defensively in the first half, entering the break with a 29-20 lead that they would expand upon in the second half.

“Keep it going. Keep the aggression on defense. Keep it up. Keep pushing the ball. Keep hitting threes,” EPC senior Braeden Bechel said of the halftime locker room message. “We were hitting our shots, moving the ball well. Doing what we work on in practice.”

A combination of efficient inside scoring at 15-of-26 inside the arc as well as a whopping 35 free throw attempts (20 makes) cleared the runway for takeoff in the second half.

“It was nice being in the double bonus, but again, it’s counting on the free throws,” Head Coach Paul McDonough said. “We haven’t been shooting the greatest at them, but it helped us out.”

Spring Valley is a team that has had defensive success holding teams to less than 50 points in five of 10 games on the year. McDonough said cracking the defense started on their own defensive end, forcing turnovers in the zone and getting easy baskets in transition. Spring Valley had 22 turnovers to EPC’s 15.

“Our 1-3-1 defense helped us get a lot of transition baskets, and we were feeding the right guys and minimizing our turnovers,” McDonough said.

EPC had four double-digit scorers, with junior Logan Auth posting a team-leading 18 points along with seven rebounds, four assists and three steals, junior Landen McDonough scoring 17 points, four assists and a whopping seven steals, senior Braeden Bechel scoring 13 points and junior Brewer Link scoring 11.

With the win coming off the back of a win over Gilmanton/Independence prior, McDonough has hope for the 3-8 squad (1-4 in conference) to heat up.

“I’m hoping this lights the fire. Get them out of that slump that we’ve been in over a few weeks. We’ve beaten a couple teams, but we just never put two halves together,” McDonough said.

He said it will come down to the continued minimization of turnovers and an improvement in the rebounding department.

“We’ve just got to keep the same energy. Come out hot, keep swinging, stay hot,” Bechel said.

Spring Valley is now 3-7 after the loss and 1-3 in conference. Leading the way was sophomore Tyler Traynor with 13 points and Collin Brunner scoring 10 of his own. The two rivals will meet again Feb. 17 in Plum City.