MONROE — After swapping blows for 35 minutes and 44 seconds, the Cheesemakers appeared to be ready to punch their ticket to the WIAA Division 2 state tournament. But playoff basketball, especially games in the Elite Eight round, tend to unleash plot twists when emotions are running the highest.

Leading Lake Mills 55-54 with 16.4 seconds left, Monroe junior Carson Leuzinger stepped to the charity stripe to shoot bonus free throws. The Cheesemakers had Leuzinger dribble around and through defenders for a minute, playing a game of cat and mouse. Leuzinger is the school’s all-time single-season free throw percentage leader, and his current career percentage is also the top in program history. The L-Cats tried to avoid fouling Leuzinger in hopes that he passed, and a lower-percentage shooter would come to the line. But with 16.4 left, the L-Cats gave in.

In a twist of fortunes, the Basketball Gods saw to it that Leuzinger missed his first attempt off the front iron, and suddenly Lake Mills had a possession needing just a layup to take the lead. Moments later, a pass into the paint found Charlie Bender, who found an opening in the swatting Monroe arms and put the ball into the hoop.

Monroe was able to stop the clock on a timeout with 4.0 seconds left. Leuzinger collected the inbound, sprinted up the court and saw a good look at the basket through two defenders from 25 feet, but the last gasp 3-point attempt hit off the back iron and fell to the ground as the final horn rang.

“I don’t know what to say. Our guys played their butts off all year, and sometimes the Basketball Gods aren’t looking down on you,” Monroe coach Brian Bassett said. 

Senior forward Cade Meyer said that in the timeout Bassett tried to draw up a play to get the shot off and that Leuzinger got off the best look he could. 

“I feel like we did the best we could to try to score on that play,” Meyer said.

Leuzinger was emotionally crushed and fell to his hands and knees in front of the bleachers. Senior guard Max Golembiewski comforted him and helped him get to his feet. The Cheesemakers then stood on their own sideline and watched as Lake Mills celebrated with parents and friend on Monroe’s home court.

“We left everything we had out there,” senior guard Tyler Matley said. “It was a tough one and it definitely hurts.”

12 months of preparation

A year ago, the Cheesemakers got bumped out of the postseason in the regional final. The 2021 senior class, along with the 2022 class and some sophomores, busted their butts all offseason, despite the COVID-19 lockdowns. With contact restrictions in place, there wasn’t a lot of man-on-man defensive and offensive skills to be practiced, so the team shot the ball — a lot.

In the fall, many of the varsity players drove to the Milwaukee suburbs each Sunday to play — with masks on — in a league against many of the state’s top players and teams. The Cheesemakers knew this season could be memorable — as long as they got a chance to get on the court.

“They got to play, and that was the biggest thing anybody wanted. They got to play and compete — and there was a while there where we didn’t think we were even going to get that,” Bassett said. “It could have been lost like the Madison schools and the Milwaukee schools.”

During the regular season, Monroe suffered just one loss — in overtime against Division 1 Janesville Parker, which also made it to the sectional tournament. Once the playoffs hit, there were new jitters to get through, but Monroe defeated Evansville and Beloit Turner in the regional round to advance to sectionals. In the win over Turner, Meyer surpassed 1960s Cheesemaker legend Jim Dearth in career points (973).

WIAA Division 2 Sectional Semifinal, Feb. 25

Monroe 75, Edgewood 68

In order to get to the championship game against Lake Mills, the Cheesemakers needed to defeat rival Edgewood.

“Credit to Edgewood — holy cow did they make some tough shots,” Bassett said. “I thought our defense did really good. We made some great defensive plays and they made some better offensive plays.”

Edgewood led 26-19 with 3:35 left in the first half after an NBA-range 3-pointer from Michael Regnier. Bassett called a timeout to get his players to refocus on playing “Monroe basketball.” The players responded and closed the half on a 13-2 run sparked by Matley.

During pregame warmups, Matley felt his shot was extra smooth, so he skipped the second half of warmups in order to “save some for the game.”

“I made a bunch in warmups and said that I’m saving it — I know I’ll run out of good shots if I take them all now,” Matley said.

Matley hit his first 3 with 3:06 left, then 30 seconds later asked for the ball again, and subsequently knocked down another shot. Caleb Bunker scored down in the post less than 30 seconds later, to which Edgewood called a timeout to stop the bleeding, having watched the 7-point lead evaporate entirely. 

Coming out of the timeout, Matley stole a pass and at the other end Meyer buried a 3. The two teams swapped field goals over the final 69 seconds of the half, and Monroe led 32-28 at the break. 

“Throughout the season I just haven’t shot much because I haven’t needed to. In these situations where they sag off a little bit or don’t guard me as tight as they should, I can hit shots,” Matley said.

In the second half, the Cheesemakers kept on firing, and the lead over the Crusaders eventually reached 17 with just under 7 minutes to play. Edgewood kept clawing back, turning to its 3-point shooters to put pressure on Monroe. In the final 7 minutes, the Crusaders hit five 3s, and a circus shot by Regnier on the baseline put Edgewood within six with less than two minutes to play. The Cheesemakers didn’t flinch. Leuzinger made 5 of 6 free throws in the final 3 minutes of the game, and the Cheesemakers were 7-for-9 from the line to close the game.

Edgewood was led in scoring by Regnier (17), Isandro Jimenez (16) and Ben Newton (11). Edgewood committed just four turnovers in the game, and just one in the second half. Monroe, meanwhile, turned the ball over on its first three possessions of the contest, but committed just four more the rest of the way.

Leuzinger had 20 for Monroe, while Meyer had 18, Seagreaves 16 and Matley 12. During the course of the game, Meyer joined the 1,000-point club at Monroe, becoming the 10th boys basketball player to reach the mark. 

“Coming into the game I was aware it was a possibility, but I didn’t try to think about that — I just wanted the win,” Meyer said. “This is nice, though. We’re always talking about my dad’s a 1,000-point scorer, my brother is, and this is kind of nice to join. It’s truly a blessing and I am happy we got the win, too.”

WIAA Division 2 Sectional Final, Feb. 27

Lake Mills 56, Monroe 55

A patented slow start by Monroe again saw the Cheesemakers fall behind early. Meyer scored deep into the paint for the game’s first points, then the L-Cats rang off 10 in a row over the next three minutes. Slowly the home team brought themselves back into the game, though Lake Mills held its lead the rest of the half and went into the intermission ahead 29-27.

“We were terrible to start every game of the playoffs. I don’t know what we could have done different. I mean, we just didn’t execute our offense very well to start any of the games and it’s like we had to take that first three minutes just getting settled down,” Bassett said. "You can’t bury yourself by nine to start a game and expect to win the big games like this.”

Meyer led the team with 14 points, while Seagreaves had 9. The pair also dominated the boards, pulling in 15 combined in the first half. Leuzinger was held scoreless, but came out like a man on a mission in the second half. A drive to the hoop by Leuzinger tied it at 29, and after a Lake Mills free throw, Meyer scored in the paint to give Monroe its first lead since the 16:37 mark of the first half.

The teams continued to battle, with neither team leading by more than a possession the rest of the contest.

“Tonight, we had a couple of shots go in and out, but in the end, you’ve really just got to give your hats off to Lake Mills. Every time we got that lead, I thought we could just take it and elevate it, and they came and punched right back. They had some really good counters to everything we did to try and stop us,” Bassett said.

Lake Mills led 50-49 with 2:35 left, but Seagreaves buried a 3 to put Monroe up. Drew Stoddard then tied it again 17 seconds later with a drive to dish. With 1:26 left, Meyer sank a triple to put Monroe ahead 55-52. Stoddard again scored on a drive to make it a 1-point game, setting up 50 seconds of timeouts, fouls and Leuzinger dribbling through defenders in order to get through the line.

Meyer gave credit to Lake Mills for making the play at the end.

“They’re a good team. They broke us down a lot on defense, which is unlike us, because we’ve been a very good defensive team all year. I feel like they just played better offense,” Meyer said.

Bender finished with 18 to lead the L-Cats. Stoddard had 14 and Adam Moen finished with 12. Lake Mills’ boys team now follows its girls’ team to state. The Lady L-Cats won the Division 3 state title the night before in Oshkosh.

Monroe was led in scoring by Meyer’s 25. Seagreaves added 12 and Matley and Leuzinger each finished with 8.

“I think I did everything I could. I mean, I feel like we all did our best. I’m proud of everyone,” Meyer said. “I moved here my sophomore year and getting acclimated to the program, they took me in so easy. I’ve grown so many friendships here, so I feel like I’m going to miss the guys the most — playing with them every day, getting workouts in the summer. Yeah, I’m going to miss them the most.”

Bassett said that watching his seniors walk off the court in heartbreak was a gut-wrenching feeling.

“What else to say? They’ve done so much for this program — each and every one of them. Having a kid like Max (Golembiewski) out there, that’s a coach on the floor. I’m going to miss these guys. I mean, you miss your seniors every year,” Bassett said. “I don’t know — I’m just lost. I was really hoping to come back Monday (for practice).”