MONROE — Just because the team won a conference championship in 2023-24 doesn’t mean Monroe was satisfied and slacked off this summer. The Cheesemakers took the offseason seriously, sharpening their skills in a fall league, and that hard work paid off in a 71-40 victory over Belleville in their season opener Saturday, Nov. 30.

“I can’t thank these guys and coach Eric Taylor enough,” Monroe head coach Brian Bassett said of the players’ offseason work. “He does skills and drills with these guys every Tuesday and Thursday. He built a lot of momentum for our guys coming into this season, and it was easy for us to continue it.”

Belleville also got off on the wrong foot to start the game, committing three fouls in the first minute. Starter Sam Arndt had two of the fouls and saw just 41 seconds of action before sitting on the bench.

“We just need to focus on what we can control,” first-year head coach Drew Shrader said. “Obviously sliding our feet helps a lot, but if they call fouls, we can’t control that. So, we just need to keep our heads, keep our cool and move on to the next play.”

The Wildcats held a slim 3-1 lead for just over a minute before Logan Taylor drove to the lane and dished to JT Meyer on the weak side to tie the game at 3-3. Later, Taylor went on a six-point run to give Monroe a 9-5 lead it didn’t relinquish.

The Cheesemakers switched its defense up between man-to-man and a 2-3 zone, keeping the Wildcats off balance. But Belleville’s Adam Cann was able to draw Taylor’s second foul on a baseline drive, sending him to the bench midway through the half.

With the team’s leading scorer on the bench, Monroe needed another player to step up. Mekhi Brown answered the call. He drained three 3-pointers in less than two minutes — the third giving Monroe a 27-16 lead with just under four minutes left in the frame.

“They’re focusing on LT. That makes me feel like I have to step up,” Brown said. “I showed that here today.”

But he wasn’t done there. Kamrin Gerber-Reamer picked up a loose ball on the defensive end and passed up the floor to Brown for two fast-break points. He then created his own shot with a dribble crossover and stepped back for his fifth 3-pointer of the half. His final points of the half gave Monroe a 34-19 lead going into the locker room.

In the second half, Belleville switched up its defense to better guard Brown. But with Taylor back on the floor, it was hard for the Wildcats to stop both Brown and Taylor. 

Monroe was able to extend its lead to 45-29 largely on out-of-bounds plays. The first was a screen-the-screener play, leaving Taylor open on the block for two. On the second, Taylor created his own shot with a fadeaway. On the third, JJ Meyer was the recipient of the screen play.

Even though its defense was struggling, Belleville was able to find some consistency on offense from Adam Cann. The senior scored seven straight points for the Wildcats, including a 3-pointer on an out-of-bounds play.

“I thought Adam did a great job tonight,” Shrader said. “He had a fantastic off season and really put in a lot of work in the gym and weight room this summer. So, it was really cool to be able to see that pay off.”

Despite Cann’s best efforts to keep pace with Monroe offensively, the Cheesemakers built up a 20-point lead on a free throw from Taylor. Down 53-31 with seven minutes left in the game, Belleville switched to a full-court press.

“What we were doing early certainly wasn’t working, so we needed to switch it up try to get back into it a little bit,” Shrader said.

But the change did little to impact Monroe. Jackson Scholey committed his third foul, sending Gerber-Reamer to the free-throw line for a pair of bonus free throws. The Cheesemakers then broke the press, resulting in another two points for Gerber-Reamer with an assist from JT Meyer.

The lead ballooned to 30 points, as Marcus Ott received the defensive rebound from Miles Versnik and went the length of the floor for two points. The Wildcats failed to stop him again, as Ott went all the way to the rim for a 68-37 lead — the largest of the game — with just over two minutes left in the contest.

The victory was a positive start for Monroe, who knows it has bigger opponents to come. The Cheesemakers’ next two games are against Mount Horeb and Elkhorn — two teams that beat Monroe last season.

“They (Mount Horeb) are going to have us perfectly scouted. I saw that they had Coach Prehn up in the rafters,” Bassett said. “Mount Horeb will be another challenge. We have a lot to clean up in one day of practice.”