MONROE — The Cheesemakers won their first regional championship since 2013, knocking off Rock Valley schools Evansville and Beloit Turner back-to-back nights Feb. 19-20.

“It’s huge to have this back,” Monroe head coach Brian Bassett said. “These guys have worked really hard. I think the other thing that is key is that it sets the standard for these kids that are coming up and gives them something to look to and try to achieve and follow in these guys’ footsteps. That’s one of the reasons we brought those four younger players up for the ride.”

Monroe, which entered the regional as the surprising 2-seed despite being ranked No. 4 in the state and holding just one loss, defeated Evansville (17-3) 57-44 on Friday, and then the next night took care of Turner (9-16) 53-46 in a slugfest where the Cheesemakers (15-1) simply didn’t look like their normal selves.

“This was the most people in the crowd that we’ve played with this year due to COVID, and the energy is something we just haven’t witnessed,” junior point guard Carson Leuzinger said. “I think a lot of it was nerves. I missed three free throws — and I don’t know if I’ve missed that many all year. We just had to settle down and get back to who we are and we did that in the second half.”

Turner earned the right to travel to Monroe thanks to a 61-56 upset of top seeded Edgerton (20-5) in the regional semifinal. 

“(Assistant coaches Jake) Grinnell and (Ken) Gratz did an unbelievable job — probably the best scouting report we’ve ever had for any team — on these guys. And our guys just sat on their hands and did exactly what we were supposed to in shutting them down, but then they did the exact same to us,” Bassett said.

The game opened as if a track meet was about to start. JT Seagreaves sank a 3-pointer 11 seconds into the game and Cade Meyer hit another a few possessions later to make it 6-5 Monroe. Then an invisible orb encircled the hoop for a while.

“I told their coach they might be the best team we’ve played all year. The way they ran their offense, the way they defended, the way they got into gaps — they just stopped everything we wanted to do,” Bassett said. “Our guys started standing because they were so frustrated and they didn’t know what to do. The final score is because of them — they did a great job of stopping everything we wanted to do.”

Monroe went more than 11 ½ minutes between field goals, and spent nearly 7-straight minutes of that time scoreless. During the 11-minute stretch, the Cheesemakers committed an uncharacteristic 6 turnovers, missed 4 of 6 free throws despite shooting over 70 percent on the season, and senior guard Max Golembiewski picked up a technical foul for jawing at a Turner player during a dead ball a possession after being jawed at on defense — all while walking to retrieve the ball from out of bounds for the official.

“I let my guard down. That’s not me. I let my emotions get away from me,” he said.

Despite the struggles, Monroe found itself down by just 6 points with 4:35 to play. A 6-0 run during a 1:20 stretch tied it at 14 with 3:16 to go until the intermission. Monroe entered the game averaging more than 70 points per game, though just 29.8 in the first half. The 15 points the Cheesemakers scored in the half was half of what they normally put up.

“(Bassett) said that we just played the worst first half that we have all year and we are still down by just three. Stay confident, have fun and get back to what we do,” Leuzinger said.

“To have 15 points, that just isn’t good. We normally have that in the first five minutes,” Bassett said.

The second half still saw the troubles of Turner’s defense, but the offensive output picked up thanks to Leuzinger, a no-fear and flashy guard and senior big man Cade Meyer. Leuzinger scored 15 of his game-high 21 points in the second half, including hitting all 10 of his free throw attempts. In the first half, he was just 3-for-7. 

Meyer, a 6-8 post player headed to UW-Green Bay in the fall, had 12 of his 18 in the second half, and all but took full control of the post. Before taking over in the paint, Meyer took a feed from Leuzinger form the top of the key for a 3 in Monroe’s first possession of the second half. 

The defense and ball movement of Monroe showed off in the second half as well. After hitting the 3, Meyer showed off his state-champion high-jump ability by blocking a shot in the rafters. A defensive possession later, Tyler Matley stole the ball, then fed Golembiewski in transition, who found Seagreaves in the paint for the hoop and the harm. Seagreaves, who finished the night with 10 points, hit the free throw and moments later, Seagreaves found Golembiewski in transition, forcing Turner to call a timeout after the 8-0 run put Monroe in the lead.

It was a lead the Cheesemakers would hold the rest of the night.

“Once we get the lead, we are confident. We’re comfortable the lead,” Leuzinger said.

Turner’s leading scorer, Donavhan Cain, was in foul trouble all night and finished with 9 points, 8 below his season average. David Heldt had 14 to lead the Trojans, while Aiden Diehl finished with 12 and Danny Burrows 11.

“We found a way to win,” Bassett said. “Off the ball we’ve been terrible about moving the last two games. We’ve just been so tight and so worried about trying to jam the ball inside. The stress just weighs on these kids and we have to figure out how to relax them a bit.”

In the win over Evansville, Seagreaves led Monroe with 17 points, while Meyer had 12 and Leuzinger 10. 

The Cheesemakers opened the game on a 7-2 run and went up 23-13 after 3s by Heath Huschitt and Seagreaves. By halftime, Monroe led 29-15. The Cheesemakers never let Evansville get within 10 the rest of the evening.

“All you can say is that they made the plays when they needed to,” Bassett said. “Hats off to Evansville — they made us work for everything we got, especially the big guys. We had some looks that we usually make, but they just didn’t go down. But our defense was fantastic.”

Coming up

The next challenge for the Cheesemakers is a familiar foe: Madison Edgewood, at Monroe High School, in the sectional semifinal Feb. 25. The Crusaders (12-12) won its regional final against McFarland (8-5) by two points. 

Edgewood and Monroe have battled for the last 20 years, with many games slow paced with emphasis on tight defense and making the most out of each possession. This year, both matchups were canceled due to Edgewood going on a COVID-19 pause.

“Between Gratz and (Pat) Murphy and myself, we probably have a book the size of a bible with stuff they’ve run in the past and what they are going to do,” Bassett said. “The concepts are always the same, and they run some sort of variations to it, but they’re really good at running fades and … they are just incredibly good at their system. They’ve always got 18 guys that they can just throw out there.

The voting in the sectional was less dramatic than the regional. Monroe easily was named the No. 1 seed, with Lake Mills (21-5) getting the two and hosting 3-seed Wisconsin Dells (15-1). None of the other teams in the sectional are ranked. The two sectional semifinal winners will play each other Feb. 27 at the home of the higher seed, with the right to play in the state tournament to follow. 

The last time Monroe advanced to state was in 2009. The Cheesemakers have reached the pinnacle of the state tournament 14 times in school history, with the first trip coming in the opening year of WIAA state play in 1916. Nine of Monroe’s trips came prior to the 1970s. 

Thirteen other schools around Wisconsin have reached the state tournament 14 or more times in the last 105 years. Neenah’s 27 is the most, followed by Superior (26). Eau Claire could be recognized as the hotbed for hoops in the state. Before splitting in two schools, Eau Claire reached state 17 times — and since, Memorial has gone 25 times and North another 7, a total of 49 trips in 105 years.

“We’ll enjoy this win tonight, take tomorrow off and then come back in Monday and focus on whoever we’ve got and just get ready,” Leuzinger said.

Coaching carousel

Back in December, as Monroe was ready to open its season after a delayed start due to the pandemic, coach Brian Bassett figured he should come up with a coaching contingency plan, should he or his staff need to be quarantined due to COVID-19. The top option was former Monroe girls coach, Sam Mathiason.

“This has been the plan all along. I thought it was going to be for me when we went full board, because I’m in two different buildings and seeing everybody in the building in Phys. Ed, but I’ve been doing everything in my ability to just stay away,” Bassett said. 

In the week before regionals, as the school district moved all elementary schools to plan B+, Parkside was hit with multiple positive tests of staff, and nearly 100 staff and students have had to go into quarantine. That affected the varsity boys team, as assistant coach Jake Grinnell is a fourth grade teacher in the school, and another assistant, Josh Trame, has kids in the school.

“(Grinnell) is just taking a step away because he wants to be as careful as possible. There’s no quarantine in his room, but he just wants to make sure that if there was anything that happened over the weekend, it wasn’t because of him. He loves these guys and he wants to make sure they have the opportunity to play,” Bassett said. “Same thing with Coach Trame — his kids go to Parkside, and there is an outbreak there and he’s got to be careful.”

Mathiason coached the girls team for 10 years, which included three trips to the state tournament. A former college player himself, his eldest daughter, Sydney Mathiason, a 2018 MHS graduate, is a member of the Wisconsin women’s team, as is former Monroe standout Sydney Hilliard, a 2019 grad.

Mathiason made it to the shootaround prior to the Evansville game and has provided the team with knowledge and experience while deferring the important decisions to Bassett. Jake Flannery, the freshman coach, is the only other assistant on staff for the postseason.

“It’s nice to have a retired future-Hall of Famer sitting next to you on the bench. He’s not in the Hall of Fame yet, but he will be,” said Bassett, who coached under recently announced Hall of Famer Pat Murphy for 15 seasons, which included four trips to state themselves, including a championship in 2007.