Cardinals improve to 4-0 in DSCC games

While basketball has been and always will be a team game, having two players that have elevated their game to another level certainly doesn’t hurt.

That’s exactly what Spring Valley sophomore Cade Stasiek and junior Jameson Bauer have done throughout the last several weeks, which has helped the Cardinals win three of their last four games. The lone loss came against the undefeated Unity Eagles (8-0) on Thursday, Dec. 29.

Both Stasiek and Bauer have played pivotal roles in Spring Valley’s two most recent games, a 67-49 win over Alma/Pepin on Thursday, Jan. 5, and an 81-69 win over Colfax on Friday, Jan. 6, the latter half of a back-to-back.

In those games, Stasiek and Bauer have served as the Cardinals’ one-two punch, which suddenly feels like a vintage Mike Tyson haymaker. Stasiek can get downhill, slash into the lane and score seemingly at will.

When Stasiek doesn’t finish, he kicks it out to the aforementioned Bauer, who has become one of the best shooters on Spring Valley’s team and one of the better shooters in the Dunn-St. Croix Conference. Through the first eight games of the season, Bauer is shooting just over 40% from beyond the three-point arc on 57 total attempts – not a small sample size.

Bauer’s excellent three-point shooting trend continued in the 67-49 win against Alma/Pepin on Thursday night. He finished with 19 points on 4-7 shooting from beyond the arc. Spring Valley head coach Rob Bosshart spoke about how being decisive with the ball has contributed to the recent offensive success.

“Jameson (Bauer) caught it ready to be aggressive and do something with the ball,” Bosshart said. “Earlier in the season I thought we had players catch the ball and not be sure what we wanted to do with it. That split second of indecision can lead to not having anything. The kids have played with more of a purpose offensively.”

While Spring Valley ultimately found its offensive rhythm, the Cardinals found themselves trailing 21-20 with six minutes to go in the first half against Alma/Pepin. That’s when a couple of steals and transition layups – one of which came from Stasiek – helped spark a 14-4 run to end the half. Spring Valley went into the intermission with a 34-25 lead.

The Cardinals came out of the intermission firing on all cylinders, especially Bauer, who hit a pair of three-pointers in the opening two minutes which helped Spring Valley break the game open, 42-28.

Perhaps no play better symbolizes Stasiek’s and Bauer’s on-court chemistry than the sequence that came with approximately 10 minutes left in the second half. Stasiek broke down his defender with a dribble move and attacked the paint. When the defense collapsed, he kicked it back out to Bauer at the top of the key who buried a deep three-pointer to help put the game out of reach.

By the time Spring Valley secured the 6749 win, Stasiek had 18 points, 10 rebounds, four assists and six steals. Bauer tallied 19 points on 57% shooting from deep in the win.

While Bauer is an offensive weapon, Stasiek is the true facilitator of the Cardinals’ offense. In an interview earlier this season, Bosshart spoke about what makes Stasiek such a talented and effective player in the Dunn-St. Croix Conference.

“Cade (Stasiek) is much more complete now than he was last year,” Bosshart said. “He’s much more confident shooting the ball and his ability to penetrate and break teams down, he’s got good vision and can see that double team coming. He’s got to be one of the top two or three players in our league as a sophomore.”

Although Stasiek has made most of his noise offensively, he’s also become one of the best on-ball defenders in the conference. Stasiek has accounted for 30 of Spring Valley’s 57 total steals this season. He’s averaging nearly four plucks per game.

Stasiek and Bauer continued to shine in the 81-69 win against Colfax at home on Friday, Jan. 6. After trailing 38-31 at halftime, the Cardinals’ offense exploded for 50 points in the second half en route to the win.

Bauer led Spring Valley in scoring with 22 points on 5-7 shooting from beyond the three-point line. Stasiek finished with 21 points, 12 rebounds and four assists in the win. Junior forward Diego Schmitt and sophomore Masyn Wolf both had nine points while sophomore Caleb Bartko had six points and 14 rebounds in the winning effort.

For coach Bosshart, having Stasiek and Bauer elevate their game to another level is a bonus, but his Cardinals are at their best when everyone is involved and doing their job. He spoke about having balance on his roster.

“When we have really good contributions from everyone that plays, that’s what it’s going to take for us,” Bosshart said. “I don’t think we can just rely on Cade and Jameson’s three-point shooting. When we get a good mix it really helps us.”

With the back-to-back wins, Spring Valley improved to 5-3 overall and 4-0 in Dunn-St. Croix Conference games. The Cardinals were back in action on Monday, Jan. 9, when they traveled to Cumberland for a non-conference game. That contest was slated to begin at 7:15 p.m.

Spring Valley sophomore forward Masyn Wolf gets fouled while going up for a layup during the game against the Alma/Pepin Eagles. Photo by Reagan Hoverman