The River Falls Wildcats went 1-1 this week as they defeated the Rice Lake Warriors 73-44 on Tuesday night in River Falls and lost to the Eau Claire North Huskies 72-62.

The Wildcats continued their impressive start to the season with this nice win over Rice Lake. They had been tied for second place with the Warriors prior to this game, but now they stand alone in second behind only the Eau Claire Memorial Old Abes in the Big Rivers. This makes Tuesday’s win a vital one for a team that’s competing for a conference championship.

River Falls already had a 5-2 lead in the first period when star player Joey Butz got his first three-pointer of the game. He barely paused after running down court, jumping up and sinking it before the defender could even get set.

Eli Johnson followed this up with a steal which turned into two points. Seconds later, Butz intercepted a pass and took a fastbreak to the net for two more, pushing the Wildcats out to a 12-5 lead.

The home team continued to run up the score as their defense came through with the rebound, and Butz put up another three from almost the same spot on the left side of the perimeter.

A first period filled with highlight reel plays continued with steals by Hayden Bottolfson and Jonah Severson. Bottolfson showed up again in the box score late in the first period with a beauty of a three-pointer from a pace off the top left corner of the key to make it 33-14 with 3:43 to go.

The Wildcats kept making shots, and they staked a 23-point lead going into the half at 39-16.

The second half was much better for the Warriors, but River Falls still outscored them 34-28. Most of Rice Lake’s damage was done late in the period, as at the midpoint, the Wildcats were still up 55-23. That’s when Brody Graetz got a takeaway and tacked on three to make it a 35-point lead.

The lead dwindled some by the end, but the Wildcats still came away with a dominant 73-44 win.

It was a very clean game for River Falls who shot excellently across the board, finishing with a 56% success rate on field goals, 38% on three-point attempts and converting on 100% of free throws. The player of the game was Butz who led the team with 19 points. He was joined in his high-level performance by Severson who came up just two rebounds shy of a double-double.

Unfortunately, the Wildcats lost their second game this week against divisional opponent Eau Claire North on Friday in Eau Claire.

River Falls now sits at 9-2 on the year, which is already a massive improvement over their 15-10 finish from last year. The only real downside is that both of their losses have been against Big Rivers opponents, including one in overtime against the 9-1, first-place Eau Claire Memorial Huskies who are still undefeated in conference play.

Head Coach Zac Campbell says they feel good about what they did offensively and the pace they played throughout the game. 

“When we play with good pace and have great shot selection and disciplined crashes good things happen for this group. We scored the ball at a 52% clip which is great and had an offensive rebounding percentage of 47% those two numbers together will win you every game you play in,” Campbell said. “We have played at a high level here for the last couple of weeks, but we still have a lot to clean up defensively and with efficiency on offense. If this group can stay grounded and focus on those areas, good things will happen for them.”

They will get another shot at a BRC win this Friday when the Menomonie Mustangs come to town. Tip off for that game is at 7:15 p.m.

Middle Border: Prescott

The Prescott Cardinals went 2-0 this week with a 60-39 win over Baldwin-Woodville and a 64-47 win against Northwestern.

The Cardinals started the conference-laden second half of their season off right with a nice victory against a divisional opponent in the Baldwin-Woodville Blackhawks. Going into the game, they were in a tie with the Blackhawks at 3-1, and this 21-point victory sends a message to the rest of the Middle Border Conference.

The game went shot for shot early with Prescott taking an early four-point lead after Barrett Temmers stepped up to the perimeter and drained a three-pointer to make it 7-3.

The Cardinals kept adding on as the period progressed. A steal by Max Monteith followed shortly thereafter by a Monteith three-pointer from the very top of the key took that lead to 19-11.

This would mark the start of a Baldwin 8-2 run that nearly tied the game.

Kobe Russell eventually broke it up with a steal that effectively stopped the bleeding and flipped the momentum. An 11-0 run ensued for Prescott which brought the score to 32-19 near midperiod. Key plays from this stretch were a Kyle Cogan three from the right corner of the arc, and back-to-back steals from Ian Leask and Dallas Wallin.

This lead would hold, and early in the second period, Russell took it out even further with a three-pointer to make it 46-27. Leask immediately ran it back and pulled a string on a three of his own to take a 22-point lead with 6:16 remaining in the game.

The Cardinals’ strong defensive play continued, and they won by 21 at 60-39.

Head Coach Nick Johnson says good teams need to win on the road. They're going to be tested a lot coming up in that way, but that beating Northwestern was a great start.

“We need to continue to play the way we've been playing. Having our defense set the tone for almost everything we want to do. It's the #1 reason we are where we are right now,” Johnson said. “We also need all five guys to continue to be threats offensively for us. The last few games our scoring has been outstanding with numerous guys in double digits. It's been great to see.”

With this win, Prescott stands alone in second place at 4-1 in the Middle Border, one game behind the currently undefeated Osceola Chieftains. This might sound familiar to Cardinals fans as they finished one game behind the Chieftains last season, just missing out on a second consecutive conference title, and that will be a storyline to follow going into the back half of the season.

Next up for Prescott is a three-game slate on the road. First, they play their only divisional opponent on Tuesday in Ellsworth at 7 p.m., then it’s on to Stewartville on Friday at 7 p.m. and finally they play in Elk Mound on Saturday at 2:30 p.m.

Dunn-St. Croix: Spring Valley

The Spring Valley Cardinals defeated the Mondovi Buffaloes by a score of 67-36 on Friday in Spring Valley.

This was exactly the kind of dominant win against a middling divisional opponent that you would expect from a Cardinals team that is looking for another conference championship this year.

Spring Valley fell behind early, but Jameson Bauer got things moving in the right direction with a three-pointer to take a 5-4 lead. Mondovi answered back with a three of their own, but Cade Stasiek went back-to-back from beyond the perimeter to stake a 4-point lead for the Cardinals.

The Buffaloes kept threatening to tie it up, but Spring Valley wasn’t done capitalizing with the long ball. Elijah Poulin got an assist on the next one as he found Bauer on the top right corner of the arc for three more to make it 18-14 with 6:52 remaining in the first period.

The Cardinal defense came up with the next couple plays. First, by securing a turnover and getting it to Kaden Robelia who weaved his way down court and flipped it in from near the charity stripe. A steal by Robelia which turned into two points followed, and finally a block by Masyn Wolf created a turnover.

By the second half, Spring Valley had a lead of a dozen at 32-20.

Wolf came up with another good block to keep points off the board, and that sparked a run of 14 for the Cardinals. Stasiek punctuated this stretch with a steal and fast break to increase the score to 46-20 with 12:30 remaining in regulation. A minute later and Stasiek was back on the outside, took the pass and wasted no time adding three more.

Mondovi was never really in it in the second half as Spring Valley continuously pulled away and finally finished with a 31-point victory at 67-36.

Head Coach Rob Bosshart says that although they got off to a little bit of a slow start, they did a nice job of turning it around in the second half.

“I thought we were able to step it up defensively and create a few easy baskets on the other end, which helped us open up a comfortable lead,” Bosshart said. “We are certainly going to be challenged in the next couple of weeks, but it will give us a good idea of where we are and what we need to work on during the rest of the season. The contrasting styles of play by our next opponents should be fun to watch.”

The teams that Coach Bosshart is referring to are the Durand-Arkansaw Panthers and the Elk Mound Mounders.

This win against Mondovi maintained the 8-3 Cardinals’ tie at the top of the conference with the 10-2 Durand-Arkansaw Panthers as both teams are 4-0 in the Dunn St. Croix. The Mounders are just one game back at 3-1 and are nipping at their heels, as well, and Spring Valley will play both of them in a row starting on Thursday when they play in Elk Mound and continuing on Tuesday when they will host the Panthers. Tip off for both of those games is at 7:15 p.m.

These are back-to-back must win games for the first place Cardinals to remain in the driver’s seat in the conference, making this the most important stretch of the season thus far. It’s going to be an exciting week of Cardinal basketball.