In need of 13 points to break 1,000 varsity career points, senior Lucas Glaus was looking to get aggressive early Friday night against Boyceville, trying not to focus too hard on the milestone itself.

He did exactly that, taking the ball to the cup early and often to help Elmwood/Plum City take a 17-8 lead, scoring 10 of his own capped by a smooth turnaround mid-range jumper.

“I knew that I was close, but I guess it was more just try to play the game,” Glaus said. “Not try to think too much of it to put a little too much pressure on me.”

Boyceville forced the door back open and would not go down easy, cutting the lead to 21-19 in EPC’s favor. With three minutes to play in the half, Glaus jumped a pass at the top of the key, took it coast-to-coast and scored an and-one layup on the right side to eclipse 1,000. The moment was a special one as EPC Head Coach Paul McDonough called a timeout to allow Glaus to take it all in. The crowd roared and showed off many signs to show their appreciation.

“It was a pretty good adrenaline rush,” McDonough said. “It was probably midway through the first half he finally burst that bubble, but it was exciting and I’m glad he accomplished that.”

Glaus became the fourth in EPC’s history in boys or girls basketball to reach the milestone, including his sister Maggie.

“It’s been a little pressure getting it, but it feels good to get it done now,” Glaus said. “I would have liked to win, that’s the first goal, but it was special… Watching my sister do it, that means something.”

The game waits for no moment though, and Boyceville made a run to take a 27-26 lead into the half. Out of the gates in the second, EPC began to fade and trailed 39-32. Glaus stepped out due to picking up a fourth foul with over 10 minutes to go.

This did not deter the Wolves, with vital buckets from Landen McDonough helping the team creep back. Boyceville’s lead was trimmed down to 43-40 with five minutes to play when Glaus finally saw the floor again.

Coach McDonough said they saw a similar thing when Glaus had foul trouble against Mondovi, with the team chemistry allowing them to stay in games or climb back into them.

“The team pulls together quite well,” McDonough said. “They all step up and play very well together. That’s what the team bonding they have is unselfishness and letting other guys try to make a play.”

The efforts were not enough though, as Boyceville would open up the game a little bit and a buzzer three from Glaus made the final 55-50 in the Bulldogs’ favor. It was back-to-back losses for the Wolves on the week, who also lost to Durand-Arkansaw 69-35 a few days prior.

“We just gotta regroup,” McDonough said. “They gotta have a short memory. Learn from your mistakes, watch the film, see what you did wrong, try to improve and do some self-reflection.”

Turnovers were a factor in both losses, but even more so in the former game, with the Panthers forcing 23 turnovers. They applied a tough press on EPC and gave them a lot of ball pressure that caused issues.

“Limiting turnovers, just taking care of the ball better,” Glaus said. “We’re younger, so I think we’re just moving in the right direction which I think is better. I know a loss doesn’t show the best, but I think we’re doing a lot of things right which is important.”

Many teams now have an extended break until early January. This is not true for EPC, as they will compete in a holiday tournament Dec. 27-28. With the shorter break, the Wolves have an opportunity to fine tune some things while other teams use it as more of a recovery.