MONROE - Pat Murphy would make a great hostage negotiator.
The Monroe boys basketball coach demands his players to be at their spots defensively, and the Cheesemakers responded Tuesday night in a 60-34 smacking of Oregon in Monroe.
Monroe (14-0 overall, 9-0 Badger South Conference) limited the Panthers (2-12, 1-7) to two first-quarter points and 11 in the first half - and led 30-11 at the break - by following the basic rules of defense laid about by Murphy from day one.
"Our defense has always been about position. Number one rule about defense is not to allow a guy to get to the paint on dribble penetration," Murphy said. "I think that's one of the things that's not negotiable."
While the Cheesemakers' defense stifled Oregon throughout the game - and the Panthers missed a majority of the open looks they found - Brett Stangel picked up the offensive reigns with 22 points. The Monroe senior got things going inside with a pretty jump hook from the left elbow to give the Cheesemakers a 6-2 lead and leaked open underneath the basket on a perfectly-executed inbounds play for a bunny on the right block a couple of minutes later.
Stangel then got his patented outside game going by drilling a 3-pointer from the right wing with 43 seconds left that gave Monroe an 11-2 lead. Stangel was the beneficiary of the Panthers' desire not to let Mitch Tordoff hurt them once again after the junior scored 26 points in a 65-30 victory Dec.14 in Oregon.
"They keyed on Mitch, obviously because he lit them up last time," Stangel said. "I got it going early going inside and just kept feeling it outside."
Tordoff finished with 13 points and center Tony Cates 11 from down in the trenches for Monroe, which extended its lead to as many as 31 points in the fourth quarter. Murphy was glad to see the Cheesemakers play heady basketball when Oregon tried to play zone late in the first quarter and get the ball to the hot hand of Stangel.
"When they went to that zone, a lot guys felt the need to shoot jump shots," Murphy said. "Like we've said before, if you're feeling it, it's one thing. Brett was obviously feeling it and I thought our guys were smart to give him extra touches."
Stangel led the Cheesemakers in scoring for the third straight game after Tordoff had held that title for 11 consecutive victories.
"It's so hard for them to stop both me and Mitch," Stangel said. "If you key on one, the other guy is going to get open shots."
Murphy got to give an extended amount of playing time to the reserves who continually push the top eight Cheesemakers in practice. Senior Nate Barta showed his soccer goalkeeping skills in the fourth quarter by backtapping offensive rebounds to the guards, while Shawn Hart and Zach Rast attacked the rim and kept the Monroe offense rolling in the final stages.
"They give us a hard time every day in practice," Stangel said of the reserves. "They usually beat us most of the time, too."
First-year Oregon head coach Shelton Kingcade lost his first season series to the Cheesemakers, but understands why Monroe is the reigning state champions and the top-ranked team in Division 2 basketball.
"They run their sets well. They play within themselves and don't do anything out of context," Kingcade said. "There's nothing you can do when you have a team that's that fundamentally sound."
The Monroe boys basketball coach demands his players to be at their spots defensively, and the Cheesemakers responded Tuesday night in a 60-34 smacking of Oregon in Monroe.
Monroe (14-0 overall, 9-0 Badger South Conference) limited the Panthers (2-12, 1-7) to two first-quarter points and 11 in the first half - and led 30-11 at the break - by following the basic rules of defense laid about by Murphy from day one.
"Our defense has always been about position. Number one rule about defense is not to allow a guy to get to the paint on dribble penetration," Murphy said. "I think that's one of the things that's not negotiable."
While the Cheesemakers' defense stifled Oregon throughout the game - and the Panthers missed a majority of the open looks they found - Brett Stangel picked up the offensive reigns with 22 points. The Monroe senior got things going inside with a pretty jump hook from the left elbow to give the Cheesemakers a 6-2 lead and leaked open underneath the basket on a perfectly-executed inbounds play for a bunny on the right block a couple of minutes later.
Stangel then got his patented outside game going by drilling a 3-pointer from the right wing with 43 seconds left that gave Monroe an 11-2 lead. Stangel was the beneficiary of the Panthers' desire not to let Mitch Tordoff hurt them once again after the junior scored 26 points in a 65-30 victory Dec.14 in Oregon.
"They keyed on Mitch, obviously because he lit them up last time," Stangel said. "I got it going early going inside and just kept feeling it outside."
Tordoff finished with 13 points and center Tony Cates 11 from down in the trenches for Monroe, which extended its lead to as many as 31 points in the fourth quarter. Murphy was glad to see the Cheesemakers play heady basketball when Oregon tried to play zone late in the first quarter and get the ball to the hot hand of Stangel.
"When they went to that zone, a lot guys felt the need to shoot jump shots," Murphy said. "Like we've said before, if you're feeling it, it's one thing. Brett was obviously feeling it and I thought our guys were smart to give him extra touches."
Stangel led the Cheesemakers in scoring for the third straight game after Tordoff had held that title for 11 consecutive victories.
"It's so hard for them to stop both me and Mitch," Stangel said. "If you key on one, the other guy is going to get open shots."
Murphy got to give an extended amount of playing time to the reserves who continually push the top eight Cheesemakers in practice. Senior Nate Barta showed his soccer goalkeeping skills in the fourth quarter by backtapping offensive rebounds to the guards, while Shawn Hart and Zach Rast attacked the rim and kept the Monroe offense rolling in the final stages.
"They give us a hard time every day in practice," Stangel said of the reserves. "They usually beat us most of the time, too."
First-year Oregon head coach Shelton Kingcade lost his first season series to the Cheesemakers, but understands why Monroe is the reigning state champions and the top-ranked team in Division 2 basketball.
"They run their sets well. They play within themselves and don't do anything out of context," Kingcade said. "There's nothing you can do when you have a team that's that fundamentally sound."
