MONROE — In the basketball postseason, the rollercoaster of emotions can skew the entire spectrum in just 24 hours. Such was the case for the Cheesemakers, which defeated Sauk Prairie 54-42 March 6, only to be outmatched by DeForest 75-61 in the regional championship the following night.

“We didn’t get the production we’d have liked to from our of our guys; but they battled, and they tried to,” Monroe coach Brian Bassett said. “The ball was in and out a lot, we went after the boards and made some runs there. We could have just rolled over in the first half and been done.” 

It was the first regional championship game Monroe had played since 2013, when the Cheesemakers lost to DeForest in a sectional semifinal.

As is the case in many postseason games, the success of any team hinges on which players step up in the spotlight, and who can keep from making mistakes at critical junctures. For DeForest, that meant unlikely shooters hitting big shots from outside early in the game and putting the Cheesemakers into a hole.

“They just came out, and guys that haven’t made shots all year for them — we have stats on them — and one guy who made two threes all year made two in the first half. If they are going to do that, then what are you going to do but tip your cap?” Bassett said.

Jahyl Bonds and Deven Magli each hit two first-half 3-pointers, while Max Weisbrod had one in each half. The Norskies (18-6) finished with eight triples. Coming into the game, Bonds had connected on just nine attempts from deep on the season, while Magli had just one.

“Some of those guys usually don’t make shots for them and they were hitting. We needed to keep playing up to their level,” sophomore JT Seagreaves said.

Monroe struggled from beyond the arc. Through the first 14 minutes of the game, DeForest had five 3s to Monroe’s one, leading to 12 of the 15 points the Norskies led by at the time.

A late Cheesemaker burst took the 15-point deficit down to just six at halftime thanks to the impressive play of young big men Cade Meyer and Seagreaves.

“(In the locker room) I told them that we weathered the storm, but the biggest thing we have to do is come out and execute in the second half,” Bassett said.

Coming out of the locker room after halftime, though, it was the Norskies, not the Cheesemakers (18-6) that were ready to go. DeForest spent less than five minutes of overtime in the locker room before returning to the court to shoot around. The Norskies then opened the half on a 15-4 run to go up by 17, all but burying Monroe and its crowd in silence. 

“We struggled to execute right at the beginning of the second half. We thought we had some momentum and they came and took it back right away,” Bassett said.

Meyer threw down a thunderous dunk at the 9:27 mark, leading to a brief 8-2 run for the Cheesemakers, but then Trey Schroeder sank a 3 to cut the run off. Only once in the second half after the early DeForest burst did Monroe cut the deficit to single digits — with 1:06 to play, sophomore guard Carson Leuzinger hit a jumper to make it 67-58. 

The Norskies hit their free throws down the stretch as well, making their first 15 attempts and finishing 17 of 19 from the stripe in the second half.

“You have to foul sometimes and hope they miss (free throws) in order to get back in the game, but it wasn’t working for us this time,” Seagreaves said.

Sensing that a comeback was unlikely, Bassett sent in his five seniors to play out the last 39.5 seconds of their career. Logan Leuzinger, Carson’s older brother, fearlessly drove to the lane for a bucket with 25 seconds left, sending hands clapping throughout the gym and bringing his mother to her feet in the stands.

“To see him get that last bucket meant everything. I love him so much, and next year is going to be hard without him,” said Carson, who played on varsity with Logan for the past two seasons.

Meyer finished the night with 24 points, while Seagreaves had 10. Max Golembiewski finished with eight points, while Carson Leuzinger added seven and Tyler Matley six. 

Schroeder led the Norskies with 21 points, while Weisbrod had 18, Bonds 13 and Magli 12.

In the win the night before against Sauk Prairie, the Eagles made no secret the game plan was to slow the game to a crawl in order to limit Monroe’s possessions. By halftime, the Cheesemakers led 21-16 while both teams combined for just five turnovers.

“It was a grind. I think that was their game plan coming in, to slow it down because they knew we wanted to get up and go,” Golembiewski said.

Monroe opened the second half with vigor and haste, and the Cheesemakers used a pair of rim-rocking dunks from Meyer to get the crowd involved and bury the Eagles. The second dunk came on an alley-oop off an inbound play, codenamed UCLA.

“That was awesome. Usually Carson gets to throw it, so I don’t know why he had me do it — maybe to switch things up. And it finally worked,” said Golembiewski, who flipped a perfect lob to a soaring Meyer in front of the rim. “(Dunks) always seems to get the team going.”

Monroe outscored Sauk Prairie 10-2 over the first six minutes of the second half to go up by double-digits, a mark that would hold for the rest of the game.

“We really have to make those free throws down the stretch” in order to close out games, Meyer said. The Cheesemakers were a crucial 8 for 8 during a three-minute stretch late in the second half that helped put away the Eagles.

Meyer led Monroe with 18 points while Leuzinger had 14 and Golembiewski 12.

Of the five seniors graduating, forward Aaron Ziolkowski was the only starter. Logan Leuzinger, Cael Leuzinger and Payton Sawdey saw a fair amount of minutes off the bench, while Federico Martinelli saw limited action. Monroe will return six of its top eight, which includes the vast majority of its scoring.

Bassett, meanwhile, will wait a while to think about next season.

“We’ll honor our seniors tonight and then move on from there. The biggest thing they need to do is thank the seniors,” Bassett said of his returning players. “We’ll talk about the next season when it comes up in about two or three weeks.”