MILTON - In the spirit of Groundhog Day, Pat Murphy was certain he'd already lived through his Cheesemakers' nail-biting 64-59 victory here Tuesday night.
Monroe (11-3, 6-2) held off hard-charging Milton (2-13, 1-7) after leading the Badger South clash by 16 points midway through the third quarter.
"What makes it frustrating as a coach is that the game played out just like the first one," Murphy said. "You want to learn from your past mistakes."
In the same way the Cheesemakers outlasted the Red Hawks 50-44 back on Dec. 11 in Monroe, a Red Hawks violation took the ball out of their hands on the potential game-tying possession Tuesday night.
"It was the exact same scenario," Murphy said.
On Tuesday, Sam McCann committed a line violation on the inbounds play with 3.8 seconds left and his team down 62-59. Michael Barrett hit two free throws to ice the game. He could've effectively done that sooner, but missed two freebies with Monroe up 58-51 with 1:22 left.
On the ensuing possession, Nate Hammon hit a 3 from four feet beyond the arc at the left wing. Brandon Knudtson drew a foul off the ball with the shot airborne and hit two free throws to complete a five-point play. At 58-56, the Red Hawks were within two for the first time since 12-10 early in the second.
But Brandon Farnsworth, who hit two 3s and scored eight of Milton's 32 fourth-quarter points, couldn't get the ball in down 59-56 with 15 seconds left.
Hammon hit another 3, uncontested, from the same wing to make it 61-59 with 6.5 left.
"I made a couple of mistakes where I just didn't know who I was guarding," Frint said. "We couldn't stay in front of people and got a little complacent at the end."
Barrett hit one of two before McCann's misstep.
Barrett's 16 points ranked second to senior Kevin Frint's 18. Frint scored 10 in the game's first 10 minutes, 20 seconds. The 6-foot, 7-inch center showed off his full arsenal as Monroe opened the second quarter with an 8-0 surge.
He scored inside to tie the game at 10-10 before baskets by Michael Turek and Barrett. Then, after attacking the basket for six of Monroe's first-quarter points, Frint showed some touch, swishing a 16-footer along the right baseline.
"When he's aggressive, he's a much better ballplayer," Murphy said.
"We like to get our bigs points in the post, but we also like to have our bigs be able to step back, and that's how we were able to build our lead tonight," Frint said.
Monroe outscored Milton 18-4 in the second to lead 26-14 at the break. When Tyler Barta made a nice extra interior pass from to the right to the left block to set up Damian Penniston, Monroe had a seemingly insurmountable lead at 36-20 with 4:58 left in the third.
Farnsworth and Knudtson tied with 11 points to lead Milton. The Cheesemakers survived not only the Red Hawks, but also an off night from the South's leading scorer at 18.4 points per game, junior Bryan Tordoff.
"We've had to lean on him so hard in so many games that tonight, it would've been nice to take the pressure off him," Murphy said. "When you're in total control of a game and all of a sudden it goes through your fingertips ... we've kind of made our hay in Monroe basketball for nine years by closing games out. To not close it out, us coaches have to examine what we're doing."
Tordoff had just one field goal, but scored 13 points by hitting 11 of 12 free-throw attempts, including all eight of his freebies in the fourth.
In both escape acts against the Red Hawks, the Cheese were coming off tough losses to Stoughton. The Vikings (5-3) fell 45-39 to first-place Madison Edgewood (7-1) Tuesday night, leaving Monroe in sole possession of second place.
"We gotta get right back on the horse, we can't dwell on the blown lead," Frint said.
He's right, as his team will play three games in five nights, first hosting Oregon Friday before a non-conference clash in Freeport Saturday.
Monroe (11-3, 6-2) held off hard-charging Milton (2-13, 1-7) after leading the Badger South clash by 16 points midway through the third quarter.
"What makes it frustrating as a coach is that the game played out just like the first one," Murphy said. "You want to learn from your past mistakes."
In the same way the Cheesemakers outlasted the Red Hawks 50-44 back on Dec. 11 in Monroe, a Red Hawks violation took the ball out of their hands on the potential game-tying possession Tuesday night.
"It was the exact same scenario," Murphy said.
On Tuesday, Sam McCann committed a line violation on the inbounds play with 3.8 seconds left and his team down 62-59. Michael Barrett hit two free throws to ice the game. He could've effectively done that sooner, but missed two freebies with Monroe up 58-51 with 1:22 left.
On the ensuing possession, Nate Hammon hit a 3 from four feet beyond the arc at the left wing. Brandon Knudtson drew a foul off the ball with the shot airborne and hit two free throws to complete a five-point play. At 58-56, the Red Hawks were within two for the first time since 12-10 early in the second.
But Brandon Farnsworth, who hit two 3s and scored eight of Milton's 32 fourth-quarter points, couldn't get the ball in down 59-56 with 15 seconds left.
Hammon hit another 3, uncontested, from the same wing to make it 61-59 with 6.5 left.
"I made a couple of mistakes where I just didn't know who I was guarding," Frint said. "We couldn't stay in front of people and got a little complacent at the end."
Barrett hit one of two before McCann's misstep.
Barrett's 16 points ranked second to senior Kevin Frint's 18. Frint scored 10 in the game's first 10 minutes, 20 seconds. The 6-foot, 7-inch center showed off his full arsenal as Monroe opened the second quarter with an 8-0 surge.
He scored inside to tie the game at 10-10 before baskets by Michael Turek and Barrett. Then, after attacking the basket for six of Monroe's first-quarter points, Frint showed some touch, swishing a 16-footer along the right baseline.
"When he's aggressive, he's a much better ballplayer," Murphy said.
"We like to get our bigs points in the post, but we also like to have our bigs be able to step back, and that's how we were able to build our lead tonight," Frint said.
Monroe outscored Milton 18-4 in the second to lead 26-14 at the break. When Tyler Barta made a nice extra interior pass from to the right to the left block to set up Damian Penniston, Monroe had a seemingly insurmountable lead at 36-20 with 4:58 left in the third.
Farnsworth and Knudtson tied with 11 points to lead Milton. The Cheesemakers survived not only the Red Hawks, but also an off night from the South's leading scorer at 18.4 points per game, junior Bryan Tordoff.
"We've had to lean on him so hard in so many games that tonight, it would've been nice to take the pressure off him," Murphy said. "When you're in total control of a game and all of a sudden it goes through your fingertips ... we've kind of made our hay in Monroe basketball for nine years by closing games out. To not close it out, us coaches have to examine what we're doing."
Tordoff had just one field goal, but scored 13 points by hitting 11 of 12 free-throw attempts, including all eight of his freebies in the fourth.
In both escape acts against the Red Hawks, the Cheese were coming off tough losses to Stoughton. The Vikings (5-3) fell 45-39 to first-place Madison Edgewood (7-1) Tuesday night, leaving Monroe in sole possession of second place.
"We gotta get right back on the horse, we can't dwell on the blown lead," Frint said.
He's right, as his team will play three games in five nights, first hosting Oregon Friday before a non-conference clash in Freeport Saturday.
