By Reagan Hoverman

When the Elmwood/Plum City boys basketball team traveled to Spring Valley on Tuesday, Feb. 1, the Wolves knew it was going to be a hard-fought competitive game that came down to the final possession, and that’s exactly what happened.

The Dunn-St. Croix Conference rivalry game between the visiting Wolves and the hometown Cardinals lived up to the expectation of it being a great game that could potentially decide a conference champion. Spring Valley entered the game with a 10-3 record and a 5-1 record in conference play. Elmwood/Plum City went into the game with an 11-4 record and a 6-2 record in conference play.

When all was said and done, Spring Valley had defeated Elmwood/Plum City 42-38 to improve to 11-3 overall and 6-1 on conference action, which moved the Cardinals into sole possession of second place in the Dunn-St. Croix Conference standings.

While Spring Valley left the game with a victory, it didn’t look like that was going to be the case throughout the first half and opening minutes of the second half. In the first 18 minutes of play, Elmwood/Plum City’s defense was suffocating the Spring Valley offense. At halftime, the Cardinals had only mustered 16 points and trailed the Wolves 21-16.

For Elmwood/Plum City, a low-scoring defensive battle was exactly what they wanted. Wolves head coach Kyle Webb spoke about the first half and how pleased he was with the defensive performance from his team.

“I’m very happy with how the defense performed,” Webb said. “They’re going to hit outside shots, that’s what they do. They are athletic, talented and very well-coached.”

For Webb, the game plan was to play solid defense and force Spring Valley to make tough, contested shots. In the first half, Spring Valley struggled to make anything from beyond the three-point line, which was the driving factor in the Cardinals’ five-point halftime deficit. Spring Valley head coach Rob Bosshart spoke about the difference between the first half and the second half.

“We made a couple of perimeter shots (in the second half),” Bosshart said. “They’re playing a zone and if you don’t score from the perimeter, they can just keep packing it in tighter and tighter and we couldn’t get the ball inside. We made some shots and that really turned it.”

Spring Valley’s first basket of the second half resulted in a three-pointer by senior guard Tyler Bowman, which cut the Wolves’ lead to four points. Three minutes later, senior guard Brady Bednarek joined the party with a three-pointer of his own. As the shots began to fall, Spring Valley battled its way back into the game.

With seven minutes to go in the game, Elmwood/Plum City led Spring Valley 32-26. That’s when sophomore Cade Stasiek came into the game and hit a three-pointer to cut the lead to 32-29 with under seven minutes to go.

Senior scoring leader for the Cardinals Connor Ducklow also made his presence known and began to take over the game in crunch time. After making a layup to cut the lead to one, 32-31, Ducklow made a chase-down block to save a bucket on what would have been an easy transition layup for Elmwood/Plum City.

Coming down the floor the other way, Bowman pulled up for a three-pointer at the top of the key and buried it to take a 34-32 lead with just over four minutes to play in regulation. Bowman’s three-pointer gave Spring Valley its first lead since they led 7-6 with 12 minutes to go in the first half.

The block by Ducklow led to the transition three by Bowman that proved to be the turning point in the game as Spring Valley held on to get the win. Ducklow’s play-making was critical in Spring Valley’s comeback victory at home against the Wolves. After the game, Bosshart spoke about the win and what it means to this team.

“It was a fun game tonight, we knew it was going to be that way because they’ve been playing well lately,” Bosshart said. “Luke Webb is a tough matchup. We were fortunate to have Connor (Ducklow) back for this, which helped us match up better in the second half. I thought our kids did a good job of not panicking when we got dwn.”

Aggressiveness was a key in the second-half comeback. As shots began to fall, Spring Valley also attacked the basket more, got to the free throw line, and opened the game up offensively. Ducklow led the charge with his 17 points on an efficient 5-7 shooting from the floor. His 17 points led all Spring Valley scorers. He also grabbed five rebounds and had five steals in the 42-38 victory. Bosshart spoke about the playoff implications of the win.

“We’re to play one game at a time, but if you lose this game, you’re really behind the eight ball with Durand not having lost yet,” Bosshart said. “But you never know, (Elmwood/ Plum City) is certainly more than capable of beating Durand and we have to take care of our own business.”

While there was a celebration on the Spring Valley bench in the closing seconds of the game, there was just as much disappointment and frustration on the Elmwood/City side of the court. The Wolves led nearly the entire game, but turnovers and missed shots in the final five minutes were costly. Coach Webb spoke about the loss.

“We had it in the bag and some untimely turnovers, that’s the way it goes sometimes,” Webb said after the game. “We can’t always do everything perfectly and can’t always execute perfectly. Things are going to happen, and they happened at the wrong time. I’m very happy with how the guys played, they played really hard.”

For Elmwood/Plum City, they’ve played in a lot of close games this season and have come up just short a couple of times. Two of those games have been against Spring Valley, games that have unquestionably had a significant impact on the conference standings thus far. Despite that, the Wolves have a solid record, are a great team defensively and are in a good position heading into the playoffs.

“The losses always hurt, they’re never fun, but you learn from them, apply them to teams in the future and we’re absolutely happy with where we’re at,” Webb said. He also spoke about the valuable experience he has on his roster. “Luke (Webb) has been playing since he was a freshman, Dayne (Whipple) has been playing since he was a sophomore, it should be interesting in the playoffs. I’m proud of these guys.”

Both Spring Valley and Elmwood/Plum City have since played subsequent games and as of Monday, Feb. 7, Spring Valley is 12-3 with a 7-1 conference record, with the most recent win coming against Boyceville on Friday, Feb. 4, which was a 57-27 victory. Spring Valley is currently 1.5 games back of Durand (9-0) in the conference standings.

Elmwood/Plum City is now 12-5, with a 7-3 record in conference play. The Wolves’ most recent game was Friday, Feb. 4, when they hosted Glenwood City, a team that the Wolves beat 60-44. The Wolves currently have sole possession of third place in the conference standings, trailing only Spring Valley and Durand.

The next game on the schedule for Elmwood/Plum City is Thursday, Feb. 10, at home against Mondovi. Up next for Spring Valley is a road game against Glenwood City on Thursday, Feb. 10. Both of those contests are slated to begin at 7:15 p.m.

by Reagan Hoverman

It was all smiles for Spring Valley seniors Tyler Bowman (#12) and Connor Ducklow (#2) as the final buzzer sounded in the 42-38 victory over Elmwood/Plum City. It was a much different r eaction for Wolves senior forward Luke Webb (#22). Photo

agan Hoverman

Spring Valley senior Connor Ducklow contests a shot by Elmwood/Plum City senior Travis Seipel. Photo by Reagan Hoverman