By John McNally
jmcnally@themonroetimes.com
MADISON - The shoe was on the other foot for the Monroe boys' basketball squad.
A season removed from not being able to miss against Seymour, the Cheesemakers couldn't buy buckets from long range and ran into the underdog that could in New Berlin Eisenhower during a repeat-squashing, season-ending 53-49 loss in the WIAA Division 2 state semifinal at the Kohl Center Friday afternoon.
"You come up here knowing there's four good teams and the first game is pretty exciting," Cheesemakers head coach Pat Murphy said. "I think this one got everyone's attention."
To nobody's surprise, Monroe (23-3) opened the game on a 10-4 run sparked by five straight Mitch Tordoff points and a 3-pointer from Jake Gross off Tordoff's assist, but the Lions reeled the Cheesemakers back in and only trailed 10-8 after the first quarter.
Cheesemakers center Tony Cates scored and was fouled by Jim Root on the right block with 5:20 left in the second quarter. He hit his free throw to regain the lead at 15-12, but the Lions' Alex Krzykowski and Mike Hojnacki had answers and seized the momentum heading into halftime.
A Krzykowski runner started a 13-3 run over the last five minutes of the first half that gave the Lions a 15-14 lead. The 6-7 Hojnacki - a first-team Woodland All-Conference player - showed sharp court vision and passed from the backcourt to Kryzkowski for a lay-in. Root drilled a 3-pointer and, a minute later, Hojnacki showed his range and stepped out for a 3-pointer to make it 22-17 with 3:11 to go.
Two minutes later, the Lions' focal point got separation on the left block and Tordoff was whistled for a foul as the shot drew twine. Hojnacki hit his freebie. A pair of free throws from freshman Bryan Tordoff made it a six-point halftime deficit at 25-19.
Murphy was surprised with Eisenhower's demeanor and confidence considering the school hadn't been at the state tournament since 1981 and they were up against the defending Division 2 champs.
"It felt like to us that we were on our heels most of the game," Murphy said. "I would've thought that they would be on their heels a little bit since we were here last year. It just felt that we were out of sync a little bit."
The Cheesemakers (23-3) shot 7-for-22 from beyond the arc (31.8 percent) and were an uncharacteristic 34.7 percent from the field.
That was a far cry from the 10-for-17 (58.8 percent) and 50-percent performances, respectively, against the Thunder en route to last year's Division 2 title.
Down 42-33 with 4:32 left in the game, the freshman Tordoff buried back-to-back 3-pointers to in 19 seconds and got the Cheesemakers back from the brink. Senior Brett Stangel - who had a Division 2 state record 33 points last year versus Seymour - had 10 of his team-high 14 points in the fourth quarter. None were bigger than a top-of-the-key triple with 2:56 to cut the Lions' lead to 44-42.
Eisenhower showed its resiliency once again as the Cheesemakers were forced to play the foul-and-chase game. The Lions went 9-for-11 at the stripe down the stretch to ice the victory with Kevin Marr going 5-for-6 after coming in at 61 percent on the season.
"Stuff like that ... it's just their time," Monroe senior Matt Turek said.
Stangel missed two 3-pointers in the final 15 seconds in a last gasp to at least reach overtime, but it was not to be. Hojnacki led all scorers with 20 points on 8-for-10 shooting and Lions head coach David Scheidegger has been amazed at his junior's progress in one season on varsity.
"A lot of these players up here have been on varsity three years. They're playing in 60 games. Michael's doing this on 26 games. Put that in perspective," Scheidegger said.
Monroe put Chase Sellnow on Hojnacki to start the game with help coming from either side. The Lions' junior had a difficult time brief getting into the offensive flow. Once his teammates made the Cheesemakers play honest on the perimeter everything came easily.
"Once Kevin, Jim or somebody steps out and hits a shot or Kevin drives the ball they got to realize they've got to get out on them," Hojnacki said. "We've got five people out there that are all threats and once they realize that, it starts getting easier for us to run our offense."
Mitch Tordoff said that the Cheesemakers settled for too many outside shots and didn't get enough ball entry passes to Cates, who had 11 points and six rebounds, to offset their typically potent outside game.
"They were ready for us," Mitch Tordoff said. "I'm not sure if we were ready for that pressure."
The Lions' guard play of Krzykowski, Alex Izzo and Tristan Tobin gave the Cheesemakers fits as they attacked the paint and either finished strong or dropped nice passes to Hojnacki for easy scoring opportunities. The biggest Lions' crowd-pleaser was a rim-rocking alley-oop from Tobin to Hojnacki with 2:17 left in the third quarter that made the game 32-24.
"I thought (Krzykowski) got into gaps well," Murphy said. "They get guys into position to make plays."
Once the Lions threw down the gauntlet, the Cheesemakers couldn't find their groove and were playing against the ticking clock.
"We just couldn't get into a real good flow," Turek said. "On a stage like this, it's tough to regroup."
The seven Monroe seniors find little comfort in the Gold Ball they won as juniors and wanted to get their hands on a second.
"I don't take a lot of comfort in that really," Chase Sellnow said of last years' title. "We really tried to put last year in the past."
"We got to the Kohl Center," Mitch Tordoff said. "But, everyone wants to repeat."
jmcnally@themonroetimes.com
MADISON - The shoe was on the other foot for the Monroe boys' basketball squad.
A season removed from not being able to miss against Seymour, the Cheesemakers couldn't buy buckets from long range and ran into the underdog that could in New Berlin Eisenhower during a repeat-squashing, season-ending 53-49 loss in the WIAA Division 2 state semifinal at the Kohl Center Friday afternoon.
"You come up here knowing there's four good teams and the first game is pretty exciting," Cheesemakers head coach Pat Murphy said. "I think this one got everyone's attention."
To nobody's surprise, Monroe (23-3) opened the game on a 10-4 run sparked by five straight Mitch Tordoff points and a 3-pointer from Jake Gross off Tordoff's assist, but the Lions reeled the Cheesemakers back in and only trailed 10-8 after the first quarter.
Cheesemakers center Tony Cates scored and was fouled by Jim Root on the right block with 5:20 left in the second quarter. He hit his free throw to regain the lead at 15-12, but the Lions' Alex Krzykowski and Mike Hojnacki had answers and seized the momentum heading into halftime.
A Krzykowski runner started a 13-3 run over the last five minutes of the first half that gave the Lions a 15-14 lead. The 6-7 Hojnacki - a first-team Woodland All-Conference player - showed sharp court vision and passed from the backcourt to Kryzkowski for a lay-in. Root drilled a 3-pointer and, a minute later, Hojnacki showed his range and stepped out for a 3-pointer to make it 22-17 with 3:11 to go.
Two minutes later, the Lions' focal point got separation on the left block and Tordoff was whistled for a foul as the shot drew twine. Hojnacki hit his freebie. A pair of free throws from freshman Bryan Tordoff made it a six-point halftime deficit at 25-19.
Murphy was surprised with Eisenhower's demeanor and confidence considering the school hadn't been at the state tournament since 1981 and they were up against the defending Division 2 champs.
"It felt like to us that we were on our heels most of the game," Murphy said. "I would've thought that they would be on their heels a little bit since we were here last year. It just felt that we were out of sync a little bit."
The Cheesemakers (23-3) shot 7-for-22 from beyond the arc (31.8 percent) and were an uncharacteristic 34.7 percent from the field.
That was a far cry from the 10-for-17 (58.8 percent) and 50-percent performances, respectively, against the Thunder en route to last year's Division 2 title.
Down 42-33 with 4:32 left in the game, the freshman Tordoff buried back-to-back 3-pointers to in 19 seconds and got the Cheesemakers back from the brink. Senior Brett Stangel - who had a Division 2 state record 33 points last year versus Seymour - had 10 of his team-high 14 points in the fourth quarter. None were bigger than a top-of-the-key triple with 2:56 to cut the Lions' lead to 44-42.
Eisenhower showed its resiliency once again as the Cheesemakers were forced to play the foul-and-chase game. The Lions went 9-for-11 at the stripe down the stretch to ice the victory with Kevin Marr going 5-for-6 after coming in at 61 percent on the season.
"Stuff like that ... it's just their time," Monroe senior Matt Turek said.
Stangel missed two 3-pointers in the final 15 seconds in a last gasp to at least reach overtime, but it was not to be. Hojnacki led all scorers with 20 points on 8-for-10 shooting and Lions head coach David Scheidegger has been amazed at his junior's progress in one season on varsity.
"A lot of these players up here have been on varsity three years. They're playing in 60 games. Michael's doing this on 26 games. Put that in perspective," Scheidegger said.
Monroe put Chase Sellnow on Hojnacki to start the game with help coming from either side. The Lions' junior had a difficult time brief getting into the offensive flow. Once his teammates made the Cheesemakers play honest on the perimeter everything came easily.
"Once Kevin, Jim or somebody steps out and hits a shot or Kevin drives the ball they got to realize they've got to get out on them," Hojnacki said. "We've got five people out there that are all threats and once they realize that, it starts getting easier for us to run our offense."
Mitch Tordoff said that the Cheesemakers settled for too many outside shots and didn't get enough ball entry passes to Cates, who had 11 points and six rebounds, to offset their typically potent outside game.
"They were ready for us," Mitch Tordoff said. "I'm not sure if we were ready for that pressure."
The Lions' guard play of Krzykowski, Alex Izzo and Tristan Tobin gave the Cheesemakers fits as they attacked the paint and either finished strong or dropped nice passes to Hojnacki for easy scoring opportunities. The biggest Lions' crowd-pleaser was a rim-rocking alley-oop from Tobin to Hojnacki with 2:17 left in the third quarter that made the game 32-24.
"I thought (Krzykowski) got into gaps well," Murphy said. "They get guys into position to make plays."
Once the Lions threw down the gauntlet, the Cheesemakers couldn't find their groove and were playing against the ticking clock.
"We just couldn't get into a real good flow," Turek said. "On a stage like this, it's tough to regroup."
The seven Monroe seniors find little comfort in the Gold Ball they won as juniors and wanted to get their hands on a second.
"I don't take a lot of comfort in that really," Chase Sellnow said of last years' title. "We really tried to put last year in the past."
"We got to the Kohl Center," Mitch Tordoff said. "But, everyone wants to repeat."
