MONROE — An 18-3 spurt by the East Troy Trojans late in the first half was too much for the Monroe Cheesemakers to overcome in a 79-67 loss to East Troy in Rock Valley Conference, Rock Division boys basketball on Thursday, Dec. 11.

Senior Mekhi Brown converted a three-point play with 13:30 to go in the first half to give Monroe an 11-10 lead. A minute later, senior Marcus Ott nailed a three to put the Cheesemakers ahead 14-10. With just under nine minutes to go in the first half, senior Logan Taylor scored to tie the game at 19-19 with 8:45 remaining in the half. The Trojans went on an 18-3 run over the next seven minutes to take a 37-22 lead with 2:40 left before halftime. A pair of threes by Taylor allowed the Cheesemakers to cut the deficit to 10 points at halftime at 40-30.

The Cheesemakers fought hard to get the deficit down to six points in the second half at 47-41 on senior Miles Versnik’s layup with 10:59 left in the game. Brown’s layup got it to 58-51 with 6:30 to go. Cameron Polvi of East Troy made a pair of three-pointers and Brayden Golabowski got a layup and a three pointer to give the Trojans their biggest lead at 69-51 with under four minutes to play. The Cheesemakers got no closer than nine points in the final two minutes.

Taylor scored a career high 22 points to lead the Cheesemakers. Brown scored 16, with Ott and Versnik adding 11 points each. Polvi led East Troy with 25 points.

Cheesemakers coach Brian Bassett said the Trojans were hot shooting the ball early in the game and it made things tough for the Cheesemakers. “Yeah, they were really tough, and when they’re hot, they’re hot. And, we didn’t do a very good job of defending them tonight, so that’s something we’re going to have to improve on over the next few weeks,” stated Bassett.

Monroe (3-2, 1-1) will play Sauk Prairie in a nonconference game at home on Tuesday, Dec. 16.