ELGIN — Try as they might, Elgin Public-Pope John couldn’t erase Elkhorn Valley’s double-digit lead and fell 61 to 49 Tuesday night in boys NVC basketball action.
After a hotly-contested first half which saw the Wolfpack trail 27 to 24 at halftime, the Falcons took control of the game in the third quarter.
Over a four-minute span to start the second half, Elkhorn Valley outscored the Wolfpack 13 to 3. Falcon Brendyn Ollendick connected on two treys and accounted for nine of the Falcons’ 13 points. EPPJ’s lone basket during that span was a trey by junior Dylon Lueking.
The remainder of the quarter saw the Wolfpack trade baskets with the Falcons. Lueking added five points, Paiton Hoefer drilled a trey and Blake Henn scored on a putback. Hoefer’s basket cut the Falcons lead to six points with just under a minute to play. The Falcons then grew the lead back to 11 points by the end of the quarter as Dawson Hansen had a three-point play and Keilyn Ollendick drove the lane for two points before the buzzer ended the quarter.
Camryn Pelster’s basket to start the fourth quarter cut the lead to single digits. The closest the Wolfpack got was 52 to 44 when Jarek Erickson hit back-to-back free throws with 4:59 left to play. From there the Wolfpack would score just five more points, three by Myles Kittelson and two by Henn as the Falcons claimed a rare victory.
The Falcons (4-0) were led by Brendyn Ollendick with 19 points, Korbin Werner had 16. Kellyn Ollendick had a team-high nine rebounds. The Wolfpack were led in scoring by Hoefer with 21 points, Lueking had 10. Hoefer and Lueking combined for 14 rebounds. EPPJ suffered their second loss in a row, dropping their record to 4-2.
