SPRING VALLEY — A nearly 30-point performance from one Cardinal and a near triple-double from another pushed Spring Valley to a 69-48 win over Colfax on Dec. 17.

It was an early scrum with the Vikings bounding out to a 19-14 lead. Things changed in a hurry, with Spring Valley stepping on the gas for a 38-24 lead at half that allowed for cruise control late in the second.

The Cardinals bring a size advantage with them in many of their games, with an intimidating six-foot-seven senior Masyn Wolf and six-foot-four senior Caleb Bartko both in the starting lineup. It was evident against Colfax, with Spring Valley punishing the glass to the tune of a 43-26 rebounding advantage. Bartko and Wolf had 13 each in that department, nearly out rebounding Colfax between the two of them.

“It’s really big for us because not only they’re big, they’re both pretty athletic guys,” Head Coach Rob Bosshart said. “We don’t feel like they’re just big, we feel like they’re big basketball players. We can run our offense through them basically.”

It was an absolute clinic put on by Bartko, pairing the rebound total with 29 points on 14-22 shooting. His previous season high was 12 points, and Bosshart said he really saw the rising confidence of Bartko on the night.

“It just gives us another real, solid scorer,” Bosshart said. “We knew that about Caleb for the last couple years, but last night was just one of those where it came together for him really well.”

Bartko’s ability to shoulder some of the scoring load will be vital to the Spring Valley offense, adding another way for the squad to find some baskets. As a tight end on the football team, he is not afraid to get physical and it shows.

Senior point guard Cade Stasiek entered as the team’s leading scorer and found himself in some foul trouble, missing a bit of time in the second half. While it made life more difficult for the Cardinals, there was also a benefit to the team being forced to run the offense without him.

“We haven’t had to do that yet this year, so it was really a good opportunity for other kids to step up,” Bosshart said.

Colfax was ramping up the defensive pressure, which Bosshart said usually results in the team relying on Stasiek to safely bring the ball up the floor to initiate the offense. Without him, the other Cardinals had no choice but to build comfortability handling the pressure.

Stasiek took full advantage of the time he was on the floor though, posting a near triple-double at 17 points, eight assists and nine rebounds. He did all of that on just eight shot attempts, going 6-8 from the floor.

The win moved Spring Valley to 4-1 overall and 2-0 in conference play.

Spring Valley’s football team was a good one, making a run deep into the playoffs. The problem that stems from the success is a quick turnaround for basketball season. It does not always come in the direct form of injuries, but tired legs can be a problem in and of itself. The Cardinals are looking to use the winter break as recovery time.

“Maybe they need a couple days just to get away from it for a little bit,” Bosshart said. “We feel like when we come back from break, hopefully we can take another big step forward.”

During the short time before the break, the team spent a lot of time learning an offense centered around two post players which they have not done in previous years. Bosshart hopes the Cardinals can spend more time on defense after the break to round out their game.

“We feel like we’ve played better as the season has gone on,” Bosshart said. “Our game is coming around both offensively and defensively.”