MADISON - No one had to send Monroe senior Kevin Frint a text message to remind him that history was on the line in a Badger South showdown with Madison Edgewood.
Frint scored seven points and sparked a 10-2 third-quarter run as the Cheesemakers grinded out a 37-27 win over the Crusaders Thursday night to move into a tie atop the Badger South.
"That's big," Frint said. "No one has ever done that before," he said referring to a fourth-straight conference championship Monroe (13-4, 8-2 Badger South) is in line to share with Edgewood (11-7, 8-2).
"The coach just challenged the upperclassmen at halftime," Frint said of Monroe coach Pat Murphy said. "The upperclassmen kind of took that personally."
Monroe junior Bryan Tordoff, who was just five days removed from a sprained ankle that had him on crutches for the second half of the Freeport game Saturday, started against the Crusaders. Tordoff blocked a shot and grabbed a rebound that led to Frint's layup in transition, which started the third-quarter spurt. Fellow junior Michael Barrett drilled a turnaround jumper and Frint scored on a fadeaway jumper with 4 minutes, 57 seconds left in the period to give the Cheesemakers a 20-12 lead.
"I don't think there is anything better than a conference championship," Tordoff said after scoring seven points. "Eric Katzenberger (Monroe's trainer) did a great job of helping me get ready. Earlier in the week, I had some doubts. Coming in to today, I had no doubts. It's definitely not fully healed. I was a little slow tonight. They (teammates) really picked me up when I couldn't do my job for the team."
One of those players who delivered in the second half was Frint. He scored down low at the end of the third quarter to give the Cheesemakers a 26-15 lead. Barrett opened the fourth quarter by burying a turnaround jumper to give the Cheesemakers their largest lead at 28-15. Barrett scored a team-high nine points and the Cheesemakers received a big boost from sophomore Tyler Barta, who scored eight points.
"When you play defense, it gives yourself a chance to win," Murphy said. "Tyler Barta gave us some good energy in the first half."
The Crusaders wouldn't go away. Edgewood senior Scott Hird drained the second of two fourth-quarter 3-pointers with 6:15 left to cut the Cheesemakers' lead to 32-24. Edgewood sophomore Spencer Brink hit a jumper with 3:09 to go that sliced the Cheesemakers' lead to 32-26, but that's as close as the Crusaders would get. The Cheesemakers made 5 of 8 free throws over the final 2 minutes to seal the victory.
"It feels great," Barrett said. "This is exactly what we wanted. We were a little sluggish in the first half. We turned it up and played Monroe basketball."
Early on both teams got off to cold shooting starts and were besieged by turnovers. Despite eight first half turnovers and shooting 5 of 16, the Cheesemakers led 12-10 at halftime. Monroe used a stifling defense to maintain the lead by limiting the Crusaders to 5-for-18 shooting in the first half.
"The most frustrating thing is we gave up nine offensive rebounds in the first half," Murphy said. "I challenged them to get more loose balls."
The Cheesemakers made six of nine shots in the third quarter and the defense stiffened and created some transition scoring opportunities.
"I had no doubt," Barrett said about winning the game. "I knew we would be fine. We fight through adversity. That's the kind of team we are. We kept attacking and that opened everything up."
Monroe has two Badger South games left including a home game Feb. 19 against Fort Atkinson and a finale at Monona Grove Feb. 26. They are two conference wins away from a historic finish.
"Every team wants that," Murphy said of a conference title. "I told coach Z (Chris Zwettler) that we would have to share this year."
Edgewood coach Chris Zwettler was honored before the game for getting his 400th career coaching win last week against Monona Grove. The Crusaders presented Zwettler a basketball signed by every player including Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan.
Monroe plays its next game at 6 p.m. Saturday against Dubuque Senior in Hanover, Ill.
Frint scored seven points and sparked a 10-2 third-quarter run as the Cheesemakers grinded out a 37-27 win over the Crusaders Thursday night to move into a tie atop the Badger South.
"That's big," Frint said. "No one has ever done that before," he said referring to a fourth-straight conference championship Monroe (13-4, 8-2 Badger South) is in line to share with Edgewood (11-7, 8-2).
"The coach just challenged the upperclassmen at halftime," Frint said of Monroe coach Pat Murphy said. "The upperclassmen kind of took that personally."
Monroe junior Bryan Tordoff, who was just five days removed from a sprained ankle that had him on crutches for the second half of the Freeport game Saturday, started against the Crusaders. Tordoff blocked a shot and grabbed a rebound that led to Frint's layup in transition, which started the third-quarter spurt. Fellow junior Michael Barrett drilled a turnaround jumper and Frint scored on a fadeaway jumper with 4 minutes, 57 seconds left in the period to give the Cheesemakers a 20-12 lead.
"I don't think there is anything better than a conference championship," Tordoff said after scoring seven points. "Eric Katzenberger (Monroe's trainer) did a great job of helping me get ready. Earlier in the week, I had some doubts. Coming in to today, I had no doubts. It's definitely not fully healed. I was a little slow tonight. They (teammates) really picked me up when I couldn't do my job for the team."
One of those players who delivered in the second half was Frint. He scored down low at the end of the third quarter to give the Cheesemakers a 26-15 lead. Barrett opened the fourth quarter by burying a turnaround jumper to give the Cheesemakers their largest lead at 28-15. Barrett scored a team-high nine points and the Cheesemakers received a big boost from sophomore Tyler Barta, who scored eight points.
"When you play defense, it gives yourself a chance to win," Murphy said. "Tyler Barta gave us some good energy in the first half."
The Crusaders wouldn't go away. Edgewood senior Scott Hird drained the second of two fourth-quarter 3-pointers with 6:15 left to cut the Cheesemakers' lead to 32-24. Edgewood sophomore Spencer Brink hit a jumper with 3:09 to go that sliced the Cheesemakers' lead to 32-26, but that's as close as the Crusaders would get. The Cheesemakers made 5 of 8 free throws over the final 2 minutes to seal the victory.
"It feels great," Barrett said. "This is exactly what we wanted. We were a little sluggish in the first half. We turned it up and played Monroe basketball."
Early on both teams got off to cold shooting starts and were besieged by turnovers. Despite eight first half turnovers and shooting 5 of 16, the Cheesemakers led 12-10 at halftime. Monroe used a stifling defense to maintain the lead by limiting the Crusaders to 5-for-18 shooting in the first half.
"The most frustrating thing is we gave up nine offensive rebounds in the first half," Murphy said. "I challenged them to get more loose balls."
The Cheesemakers made six of nine shots in the third quarter and the defense stiffened and created some transition scoring opportunities.
"I had no doubt," Barrett said about winning the game. "I knew we would be fine. We fight through adversity. That's the kind of team we are. We kept attacking and that opened everything up."
Monroe has two Badger South games left including a home game Feb. 19 against Fort Atkinson and a finale at Monona Grove Feb. 26. They are two conference wins away from a historic finish.
"Every team wants that," Murphy said of a conference title. "I told coach Z (Chris Zwettler) that we would have to share this year."
Edgewood coach Chris Zwettler was honored before the game for getting his 400th career coaching win last week against Monona Grove. The Crusaders presented Zwettler a basketball signed by every player including Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan.
Monroe plays its next game at 6 p.m. Saturday against Dubuque Senior in Hanover, Ill.
