MONROE — The fifth-ranked Cheesemakers picked up arguably their toughest win of the season on Jan. 11. 

“We knew it was going to be a dogfight — your record doesn’t matter,” said Monroe senior Carson Leuzinger after his team’s 52-50 win over Edgewood. “It’s Edgewood — they are super-well coached, they are patient, they play great defense — so we just stayed with it, kept moving, kept getting good looks and came home with the win.”

Monroe scored just four seconds into the game, but the Crusaders quickly negated the deficit and soon went up by 10 points less than five minutes into the game.

“We knew this was going to be a grinder,” said Monroe assistant coach Josh Trame, who filled in for Brian Bassett, who was out ill. “Every time you play Edgewood, you know it’s going to be a grind. You know it’s going to be a physical game. The message we gave to our guys before the game was to control what you can control and stick to our game.”

The game marked the first varsity win for Trame. 

“For me, coaching the first game here, I’m just so proud of our guys. I am a preacher of attitude, and there were so many times we could have put our head down and quit, but we didn’t — we continued to grind and played with that extra effort. I’m so proud of the guys of how they executed,” Trame said.

JT Seagreaves scored Monroe’s first seven points of the game, but it wasn’t until Carson Leuzinger got going that Monroe really started cutting into the deficit. Leuzinger hit a turnaround jumper at the 11:47 mark for his first bucket, making it 16-9. After a Tucker Markham drive to the hole, Leuzinger scored the next seven points, hitting two more jumpers and knocking down three free throws after drawing a foul in the corner on a pump fake 3-point attempt. The short run brought Monroe back to within two points at 20-18.

From there, it was a dogfight, with Edgewood leading at halftime 30-25.

“The first half wasn’t our best — we gave up 30,” Leuzinger said. “Coach Trame really got on us at half to pick up our defense, and that’s what we did, and that’s what got us the win.”

The Cheesemakers opened the second half with an 9-0 run thanks to 3s by Leuzinger and George Brukwicki and a putback by Seagreaves. Edgewood bounced back with an 8-point run over a 2-minute stretch to get back on top 38-34.

With just 4:18 left in regulation, Seagreaves scored on a baseline drive, tying the game at 43. The basket also put him over 1,000 points for his career, joining Leuzinger, his teammate since fourth grade who reached the milestone just one game earlier. Seagreaves is also the school’s all-time rebounding leader and is averaging about 10 per game this season.

“It’s pretty cool. It’s not often you get two players in the same grade both get 1,000 points — in back-to-back games too, even,” Seagreaves said. “I think we were both pretty proud of each other. It’s pretty cool.”

“We’ve been playing together since fourth grade. I remember Saturday mornings just playing in tournaments every day, and now we’re playing on the big stage as seniors. To reach 1,000 points — and almost on the same night — is something surreal,” Leuzinger said.

Seagreaves’ bucket grew the energy on the court and in the crowd. Just moments later after a turnover, Edgewood head coach Chris Zwettler received a technical foul, further loudening the home crowd. The Crusaders still managed to get back on top, as a 3-pointer by Teo Jimenez made it 46-44 Edgewood with just 3:11 left. Seagreaves hit the front end of a bonus to get Monroe back to within a point. 

A breakdown on defense saw Jimenez break free on a cut through the lane for a basket with 1:20 left, but Seagreaves scored another basket in the paint 15 seconds later to keep pace. Monroe was several fouls behind sending Edgewood to the line for bonus throws, but a questionable 3-point attempt with 30 seconds left by Lucas Cose hit off the iron and Leuzinger grabbed the rebound, giving the Cheesemakers at least one last possession in hopes of taking the lead. 

Calling his own number, Leuzinger pulled up from the corner in front of his classmates in the student second and buried a 3 with just 23 seconds left. 

“(My confidence) is off the charts. I come in every morning and I shoot and shoot. My shot has felt the best it ever has,” Leuzinger said. “I hit 70% every morning. I’m comfortable with the ball in my hands and I like hitting those big shots.”

A quick 3-pointer by Edgewood clanked off the rim again and players from both teams put their hands on it, forcing a jump ball with Monroe holding the possession arrow. 

During a timeout with 10 seconds remaining, the student sections bantered, with Edgewood chanting “Let’s play football” referencing the Crusader’s 31-28 win over Monroe, with the Cheesemakers fans retorting “2-0”, a reference to the official score after Edgewood was forced to vacate its wins after using an ineligible player. That gave Monroe the conference championship.

When play resumed, Monroe knocked off four seconds before Seagreaves was fouled and went to the line for two free throws. He hit them both to put Monroe up 52-48. Edgewood got an uncontested layup at the buzzer by Donovan Nedelcoff to bring his team’s official loss to within a possession.

“Basketball is a game of runs — you just need to make your run at the right time, and that’s what we did,” Trame said. “We got some defensive stops at the end, too.”

Leuzinger and Seagreaves each finished the night with 20 points to lead all scorers. Monroe was 14 of 20 from the free throw line and hit four 3s. Edgewood hit eight 3s, but attempted just two free throws — both misses in the first half. Jimenez led the Crusaders with 13 points.

Edgewood (3-8, 0-6) is getting reinforcements back after the holiday break, as the Crusaders had missed multiple key players for the first half of the season. The two teams will meet again Feb. 18.

“It felt great (to win). We knew they had a couple of guys coming back and that they were going to play the hardest basketball they could. We started a little slow, but we picked it up. I think we realized what this game meant and just took care of business,” Seagreaves said.

Monroe leads the all-time series 23-21, dating back to 2000. Each team has won seven games over the past 14 meetings, dating back to 2014-15. 

This season, Monroe (13-1, 7-0 Badger West) now holds a 2.5 game lead on Mount Horeb. 

“We’re getting 1% better every day. And we’re becoming a family and trusting each other,” Leuzinger said of his team’s success this season. “And now we have a 10-day break. We’re undefeated in conference, and that just helps make this break more comfortable.”

Darlington 73, 

Black Hawk 37

DARLINGTON — The Redbirds went into halftime leading Black Hawk by 12, but dominated in the second half, outscoring the Warriors by 24 en route to a nonconference victory Jan. 11.

Hunter Hardyman had 20 points to lead Darlington (8-2), while Will Murray had 19 points and Easton Evenstad 16. Murray added 11 rebounds and Hardyman added four steals.