MONROE — The Cheesemakers entered the boys basketball season with high expectations, as in, make it to the state’s culminating event. But Brian Bassett’s team also knows it has to focus one game at a time. Case-in-point, after a confidence boosting win over Waunakee, Monroe had a letdown at home against Janesville Parker, suffering its second loss of the season.
“Losing to Parker was the humble pie that was served to us on Saturday (Jan. 16) that allowed us to refocus,” Bassett said. “Parker was our first measurement game, and we didn’t pass it. They improved more than we did.”
When Stoughton rolled into town on Jan. 18, the Cheesemakers needed to show that they were able to refocus. Less than three minutes into the game, the visiting Vikings led 9-3 thanks to a dazzling show by senior Cael McGee. Bassett called a timeout at the 15:17 mark and politely gave his troops some words of encouragement.
Bassett quipped that he told his players “not a whole lot of things that can be put in the paper.”
“No, I just told them to focus. That was the biggest thing — just wake up. We were a step slow. It kind of reminded me of the Parker game all over again. You have to come ready to play no matter the competition is,” Bassett said.
The Cheesemakers responded to their coach immediately by shifting out of neutral and into overdrive, outscoring the Vikings by 34 the rest of the way to win 78-50.
Coming out of the early timeout, Carson Leuzinger hit back-to-back 3-pointers to tie the game, and then JT Seagreaves scored on a putback to give Monroe an 11-9 advantage, prompting Stoughton coach Nolan Weber to call a timeout himself. Both teams traded baskets over the next three minutes, but then Monroe (6-1) found its groove. The Cheesemakers sprung off a 15-0 run that lasted more than six minutes. By halftime, Monroe led 36-28.
“I think (coach Josh) Trame said it best: Defensively we were so much better than we were Saturday and we were able to get out and get some good looks in transition, which is what this team really thrives on,” Bassett said.
Leuzinger is averaging more than 14 points per game this season, but was held to just 1 against Parker. He rebounded against Stoughton, finishing with 20, with 12 coming in the first half.
“I think he did a great job in all facets. He did a great job in defending Cael McGee; he did a great job of rebounding and a great job of finding assists — and obviously a great job scoring,” Bassett said. “According to Bert Leach (team manager), he almost had a triple-double. (Carson) was sharp tonight.”
Monroe had a first in Bassett’s time with the Cheesemakers — three players topped 20 points in the game. Cade Meyer (23) and Seagreaves (career high 22) joined Leuzinger in the 20-point club.
“That was crazy. I’ve never had a team do that before. It tells you that our guys were looking for the hot hand. Hats off to (Tyler) Matley and (Max) Golembiewski, our starters who were feeding the hot hands,” Bassett said. “Those guys passed to each other well, I thought. JT had a couple of nice backdoor cuts and Cade found him. I thought Carson — for the first time this year — did a great job getting deep into the paint and kicking it out for wide open shots or dumping it off to Cade or JT. That takes us to another level.”
After the first minute of the second half, the game was hardly contested, as the Cheesemakers seized momentum and ran with it. The onslaught was punctuated by an emphatic alley-oop dunk by Seagreaves off an inbound pass from Golembiewski.
McGee, a 4-year varsity player, led Stoughton with 21 points, while Steven Benoy had 12 points on four first-half 3-pointers. McGee also received a technical foul in the first half for slapping the backboard
Monroe, ranked No. 7 in Division 2 in the most recent WisSports.net Coaches Poll, has nine more games scheduled this regular season, with home games against Monona Grove (Jan. 21), Watertown (Jan. 23), and Janesville Craig (Jan. 25) up next.
“Watertown has been playing a while, and they gave us a lot of fits the last time. They were killing us. If you look at every stat from that game we should have lost,” Bassett said. “That game for us is going to be a measurement game to see if we’ve improved at all.”
