MONROE — As the Cheesemakers closed the regular season with a 72-58 win Feb. 28 over Milton, Monroe head coach Brian Bassett was pleased with his team’s defensive efforts. In the prior meeting this season, the Red Hawks scored 97 points, shocking Monroe.

“Defensively, our guys were locked in,” Bassett said. “For whatever reason, the last time we played them our guys thought it was the old Milton teams that would just roll over and you’d move on. They brought us down and showed us that we weren’t unbeatable, so I kind of thank them for that. (Coaches) JG (Jake Grinnell) and Gratzie (Ken Gratz) put together a great scouting report and our guys followed it to a ‘T.’”

The loss earlier in the season cost the Cheesemakers a shot at a conference title, instead finishing a game behind Stoughton. The second time around, Monroe dominated the glass and kept the Red Hawks from finding any kind of momentum until the game was in hand.

“I think it was one of our best defensive efforts all year. Everyone was putting in 100% effort and diving on the floor and making plays,” said senior Payton Sawdey.

Monroe took the lead for good just over five minutes into the game and went into halftime with a 35-24 advantage. Tempers were ready to flair just before the end of the half, however. Caleb Bunker fed Cade Meyer across the lane, with Meyer springing for a two-handed jam, only for Milton’s Tommy Widner to undercut him, sending Meyer awkwardly to the floor. Meyer would brush it off and hit the free throw, but it was not the first time — nor the last — that a Milton player would undercut a Cheesemaker on a rebound, layup or dunk in the contest.

“I thought we played pretty well to start off — defense mostly. I thought we played really good defense. Our shots weren’t falling right away, but I think we did a really good job of stopping on defense to make up for it on offense,” Meyer said.

In the second half, the Cheesemakers kept the offense rolling. After Meyer blocked a Milton shot attempt, JT Seagreaves fed Max Golembiewski for a 3-pointer just 44 seconds into play. Moments later, Carson Leuzinger fed Meyer for another hoop, and then Meyer blocked another shot to demoralize the Red Hawks.

Monroe’s lead continued to grow, as the Cheesemakers rang off a 15-5 run over the first seven minutes of the half. The lead stretched to as much as 22 points with just under 3:30 to play.

Jack Campion, who poured on 38 points in the first meeting, started jacking up NBA-range — or deeper — 3-point attempts. Campion, the Red Hawk’s leading scorer, hit three 3s in the final three minutes of the game, and Milton got back to within 12 points before Leuzinger hit two free throws with 26 seconds left. Campion finished with 25 points, including 18 in the second half. 

“We knew when Matley was coming in he was going to go on Campion and we were going to put Carson on somebody else. We wanted to wear him (Campion) down by giving him different defenders and different looks. He’s too good to just have one person guard him,” Bassett said. 

Meyer finished with 22 points, 14 rebounds and three blocks for the Cheesemakers. Seagreaves added 15 points and five rebounds. Bunker had six boards and six points, while Aaron Ziolkowski ended the game with six rebounds, two steals, two assists and four points. Golembiewski had eight points and four assists, and Payton Sawdey hit a pair of timely 3s.

“The eight guys that played contributed big time. From Bunker to Sawdey; Matley’s defense on Campion — unbelievable. I can’t say enough about our guys being locked in, even the guys on the bench for calling out the plays on the floor,” Bassett said.

Monroe also won the turnover battle 11-16. During the second half, the Cheesemakers worked on a new offensive wrinkle — trying to find Meyer back door for alley-oop dunks. 

“Anything that we can do to keep the ball up — we’ve got so many big guys that if we can just get it up to them, the little guys can’t get it. We’ve been working on throwing it up and posting up, because we can out-jump most of the guys on the floor,” said Meyer, who stands 6-8 and won the high jump at state a year ago.

Campion, a sophomore, finished as the conference leader in scoring at 20.2 points per game. Meyer was second at 18.4. 

Monroe has a first-round bye in the WIAA Division 2 playoffs. The Cheesemakers will host either Baraboo or Sauk Prairie in the regional semifinal March 6. Should Monroe advance to the next round, the Cheesemakers would host the regional championship at 7 p.m. March 7.