MONROE — With a shot at capturing the conference crown in striking distance, the Cheesemakers misfired in a 63-60 overtime loss to Monona Grove Feb. 1. 

Monroe came out strong in the first half, building a lead that reached as high as 11 before settling into halftime with a 37-29 advantage. But as much of the season has shown, the Cheesemakers can look like two different ballclubs over the course of a game, and in the second half the home squad faded just enough to let the Silver Eagles back into the game.

“We made a couple of plays to get it into overtime and give ourselves a chance, and then we did some bizarre things in the overtime once we had the lead, which was frustrating,” Monroe coach Brian Bassett said. MG (11-5, 7-2 Badger South) moved into a first-place tie with Oregon and Stoughton after Oregon lost to Madison Edgewood (7-9, 4-5) the same night. Monroe (8-8, 6-3) remains one game off pace with five to play.

After getting a jumper off the inbound by Michael Lange at the 17:23 mark in the second half, Monroe went without a field goal for nearly seven minutes. The 39-29 lead after the Lange bucket eroded entirely, with MG taking a 43-41 lead with 11:01 left in the game. Kade King’s hoop-and-the-harm with 10:47 left broke the drought and briefly gave the Cheesemakers the lead.

“We were trying to push the ball up the court, but we weren’t throwing solid passes. They weren’t even pressuring us that hard,” sophomore Cade Meyer said. “I feel like not having practice these last couple days, we were just rough. We weren’t moving the ball well, and we just need to figure something out.”

During the stretch, Monroe turned the ball over on five straight possessions on what appeared to be almost completely unforced errors. In the second half alone, Monroe had 12 turnovers and gave up 12 offensive rebounds to the Silver Eagles.

“That’s the story of the game. We’ve got to get somebody else in there who can block out. Sometimes it’s like we rely on our athleticism, but we can’t do that,” Bassett said.

And still, the Cheesemakers didn’t let Monona Grove get away from them. The two teams battled over the final 10 minutes of the contest. 

MG first went up by five points at 49-44 with 9:48 to play, but a tip-in by sophomore Cade Meyer brought the crowd back into it. Meyer was just getting started, as he turned up his spotlight in the second half. On the ensuing MG possession, Monroe senior Nick Schumacher stole the ball and in transition found a streaking Meyer, who hammered home a vicious two-handed slam that brought the crowd to its feet and forced a Silver Eagles timeout with 8:12 remaining.

“That was crazy and was exactly what we needed, which is why they called the timeout — to slow us down,” Meyer said. “We needed to build from that and just couldn’t get it done.”

MG again went up by five at 57-52 with 3:42 to go after a drive to the hoop by Caden Nelson, who led all scorers with 22 points.

“Cade Nelson is a heck of a player and will probably be the player of the year,” said Monroe freshman guard Carson Leuzinger, who was given the task of playing on Nelson’s hip all game. “We had a lot of turnovers. We weren’t strong with the ball, and that’s really what gave them the momentum. They won conference last year, so they know what it takes. They knew they needed this one to keep their conference hopes alive, and they knew coming out of the half that they had to bring it.”

Monroe responded in the waning minutes, with sophomore Cade Meyer finding freshman JT Seagreaves in the paint with 3:17 left, and then Leuzinger hitting a 3 off a pass from Max Golembiewski with 2:27 to go to tie it at 57. 

“It was pretty cool, the crowd got into it,” Leuzinger said. The freshman guard has seen his playing time skyrocket over the course of the season, and beyond on the floor in that late game moment is what he has worked for all year, he said. “Trusting the process, proving to the coaches in practice that I can be that guy to score, that I can be the guy at the end of games that can hit that clutch shot and that I belong on the court even with my age.”

Both teams had opportunities to win it in regulation. First, MG put up a shot with just over a minute left that Meyer rebounded. On Monroe’s ensuing possession, with the Cheesemakers trying to run the clock down for the final shot, senior Nick Schumacher was trapped in the deep wing and a defensive 5-second call gave possession back to Monona Grove. 

“We haven’t had a whole lot of practice time (lately), but this past week all we did was practice 4-minute games because we wanted to see what we could do in situations like this — up six, down six, up four, down four. We tried different groups to see who would execute well and who wouldn’t. It’s so frustrating. It looks good in practice, but when the lights are on you have to make plays,” Bassett said of the collective squandered opportunities in the second half.

Nelson missed his shot with under four seconds to play and Meyer again grabbed the rebound. A timeout allowed Schumacher to hoist a half-court desperation shot that missed wide.

In the overtime, Meyer kept up his brilliant late-game play with a basket off a rebound to put Monroe up 59-57. MG would hit just one field goal in the second half, a putback by Kyle Nett for his only points of the game. But the Silver Eagles did just enough damage at the free throw line, going 4-of-7 from the stripe in the extra session to close it out.

King attempted a 3-pointer at the buzzer on a discombobulated play that was off target, ending the game.

“(Nett), I don’t know how many offensive rebounds he had himself. Give it up to (Jordan Bishop) for all his screens that set up shots. They are the ones who won it — they went and took it. They wanted it,” Bassett said.

King recorded another double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds. Meyer had 12 points and eight boards, with five rebounds coming in the final minute of regulation and overtime. Lange had 11 points, Leuzinger eight and Seagreaves seven.

Due to inclement weather that postponed games from around the state, every team was hit with a bump in the routine just weeks before postseason play begins. Monroe was hit especially hard. Makeup games in the crucial stretch mean little chance for practice. The WIAA stipulated that teams must have one day off every seven days, and with a Feb. 2 game scheduled, it meant a Sunday practice before the Feb. 4 makeup at Oregon. Monroe then will take Feb. 5 off before getting in one day of practice before the Feb. 7 slate against Stoughton.

“We just have to keep our heads up and get into our groove again and keep playing the ball that everyone knows we can play,” Meyer said.

Monroe 54, Milw. Academy of Science 52, Feb. 2

MEQUON — The Cheesemakers again played to the final second of the game, this time picking up a nonconference win at the Chekouras Classic at Homestead High School. 

With the game tied in the final seconds, Leuzinger drove to the lane and then kicked to Meyer underneath. Meyer then pump-faked and dropped in the bucket to win the game.

King scored 23 points to lead Monroe in scoring, while JT Seagreaves had 14 and Meyer 9. 

Monroe led 28-24 at halftime.