MONROE - How much better can a player play on their home court for the final time than with a 30-point game and a playoff win?
Senior guard Michael Barrett did exactly that Friday night in the Cheesemakers' 59-50 win over McFarland in the second round of the WIAA Division 2 boys basketball playoffs. Barrett, playing in front of his home crowd for the last time, scored 13 points in the decisive fourth quarter and added 11 rebounds in the game, capping a double-double.
"It's our last game at home, so when the game was close us seniors got together and knew we had to do this (win)," Barrett said. "That was our motivation - this was the last time we'll play here."
With Monroe trailing 36-32 with under two minutes to play in the third quarter, Barrett sparked the rally. The senior stole the ball and went up for a dunk in fast break. He missed the high-percentage shot, but teammate Bryan Tordoff was there for the putback.
"He does that all the time, so I'm shocked it didn't go in," Monroe coach Pat Murphy said of the dunk. "But he bounced back. He didn't hang his head or get embarrassed by it. He toughed it out.
"But Michael's been playing like that all year. He's going to have to carry the load. You lean on your seniors."
Barrett then hit a pair of free throws to tie the score at 36 after three quarters.
"We tried to keep our focus the same as every quarter. We were executing, we just weren't finishing," Barrett said. "We weren't panicking. We weren't scared or anything. We came out great and finished our plays."
The momentum didn't slow down for the Cheesemakers (19-4), as they scored the first 10 points of the fourth quarter, eight of which came from Barrett. In fact, the super senior converted on a rare 4-point play just 33 seconds in that forced McFarland coach Jeff Meinholdt to call a timeout.
"We told the kids to just keep fighting," Murphy said. "One of our goals this whole year is to just win that fourth quarter."
But McFarland (18-6) never quit and went on an 11-4 run to close the gap to three points at 50-47. After a Monroe timeout, Andrew Armstrong found himself alone under the hoop with a loose ball and put Monroe back on track.
"I couldn't believe that ball fell perfectly for me to grab and put it in," said Armstrong, who scored all six of his points in the fourth. "It's a rush. They were double-teaming everybody and I was just trying to get to that open spot."
The Cheesemakers closed the game out at the free-throw line, hitting 12 of 13 in the fourth quarter. For the game Monroe shot 21 of 24 and held McFarland to just three total attempts from the charity stripe. The lead stretched to as much as 59-47 in the closing seconds.
Barrett, who struggled mightily from the line in the regular season finale a week ago, was 10 of 12 Friday.
"I practiced a lot of free throws," Barrett said of his last week of preparation. "I came to the gym during my RP (responsibility pass) and shoot 100 free throws or as many as I could get up. That got me in my groove."
Monroe led 14-9 after the first quarter and 22-19 at halftime.
Senior Bryan Tordoff had 15 points for the Cheesemakers, including 10 in the second half. Tordoff, typically a sharpshooter, hit just four shots from the field and didn't convert on a single 3-point attempt.
"You just have to believe you're going to make that next shot," Tordoff said. "As the saying goes in our family, 'Shoot to get hot, shoot to stay hot.' Luckily my teammates picked me up. Michael Barrett didn't want to lose tonight, and that's a plus."
With the win, the Cheesemakers move on to the regional final, which will be played at 7 p.m. tonight against DeForest (13-11) in Verona. Monroe won the season's only meeting between the two schools, 47-37.
"We're going to need everybody to play their best (Saturday) night, without a doubt," Murphy said.
Senior guard Michael Barrett did exactly that Friday night in the Cheesemakers' 59-50 win over McFarland in the second round of the WIAA Division 2 boys basketball playoffs. Barrett, playing in front of his home crowd for the last time, scored 13 points in the decisive fourth quarter and added 11 rebounds in the game, capping a double-double.
"It's our last game at home, so when the game was close us seniors got together and knew we had to do this (win)," Barrett said. "That was our motivation - this was the last time we'll play here."
With Monroe trailing 36-32 with under two minutes to play in the third quarter, Barrett sparked the rally. The senior stole the ball and went up for a dunk in fast break. He missed the high-percentage shot, but teammate Bryan Tordoff was there for the putback.
"He does that all the time, so I'm shocked it didn't go in," Monroe coach Pat Murphy said of the dunk. "But he bounced back. He didn't hang his head or get embarrassed by it. He toughed it out.
"But Michael's been playing like that all year. He's going to have to carry the load. You lean on your seniors."
Barrett then hit a pair of free throws to tie the score at 36 after three quarters.
"We tried to keep our focus the same as every quarter. We were executing, we just weren't finishing," Barrett said. "We weren't panicking. We weren't scared or anything. We came out great and finished our plays."
The momentum didn't slow down for the Cheesemakers (19-4), as they scored the first 10 points of the fourth quarter, eight of which came from Barrett. In fact, the super senior converted on a rare 4-point play just 33 seconds in that forced McFarland coach Jeff Meinholdt to call a timeout.
"We told the kids to just keep fighting," Murphy said. "One of our goals this whole year is to just win that fourth quarter."
But McFarland (18-6) never quit and went on an 11-4 run to close the gap to three points at 50-47. After a Monroe timeout, Andrew Armstrong found himself alone under the hoop with a loose ball and put Monroe back on track.
"I couldn't believe that ball fell perfectly for me to grab and put it in," said Armstrong, who scored all six of his points in the fourth. "It's a rush. They were double-teaming everybody and I was just trying to get to that open spot."
The Cheesemakers closed the game out at the free-throw line, hitting 12 of 13 in the fourth quarter. For the game Monroe shot 21 of 24 and held McFarland to just three total attempts from the charity stripe. The lead stretched to as much as 59-47 in the closing seconds.
Barrett, who struggled mightily from the line in the regular season finale a week ago, was 10 of 12 Friday.
"I practiced a lot of free throws," Barrett said of his last week of preparation. "I came to the gym during my RP (responsibility pass) and shoot 100 free throws or as many as I could get up. That got me in my groove."
Monroe led 14-9 after the first quarter and 22-19 at halftime.
Senior Bryan Tordoff had 15 points for the Cheesemakers, including 10 in the second half. Tordoff, typically a sharpshooter, hit just four shots from the field and didn't convert on a single 3-point attempt.
"You just have to believe you're going to make that next shot," Tordoff said. "As the saying goes in our family, 'Shoot to get hot, shoot to stay hot.' Luckily my teammates picked me up. Michael Barrett didn't want to lose tonight, and that's a plus."
With the win, the Cheesemakers move on to the regional final, which will be played at 7 p.m. tonight against DeForest (13-11) in Verona. Monroe won the season's only meeting between the two schools, 47-37.
"We're going to need everybody to play their best (Saturday) night, without a doubt," Murphy said.
