MONROE — The Cheesemakers continued its strong boys basketball season Feb. 1, toppling conference rival Oregon 70-43.
“We made some shots, and that was huge, but like I told the guys: There are nights when the shots aren’t falling, and I thought our defense was good tonight,” Monroe coach Brian Bassett said. “I was pleased with our effort tonight.”
JT Seagreaves continued his scoring streak, leading the Cheesemakers with 22 points. Seagreaves has been on varsity since his freshman season, but now as a junior is averaging 16.5 points per game and has scored 20 or more points in four of his last six games and is averaging 20.5 during the same stretch.
Senior Cade Meyer, a UW-Green Bay commit, had 21 points, and junior guard Carson Leuzinger scored 12 of his 16 of his points in the first half.
“We’ve still got a long ways to go; we’ve still got to work on some things to get the ball more to the basket that make better or easier looks for Cade and JT. It just seems like they have to work against three or four guys every time they catch it,” Bassett said. “We have to start getting some diagonal screening in there so they can get some better looks. We’ll figure that out as we go along. Our guys are really smart. We’ve got, like, 8,000 plays in, and for the most part they know it.”
The game was all but decided in the opening period. Monroe opened on an 11-3 run that included 3-pointers from Seagreaves, Meyer and Max Golembiewski, plus a transition jumper from Leuzinger that came after a steal from Tyler Matley and a feed from Meyer. The advantage reached 10 points at 18-8 8:20 into the game when Leuzinger capped a 3-point play on a drive to the hoop and a free throw after a foul.
A 19-2 run during that stretch saw Monroe hit a pair of 3s and back-to-back dunks from Seagreaves and Meyer — Seagreaves threw down a two-handed slam on a drive from the baseline, while Meyer wilted the Panthers’ confidence with a steal and a coast-to-coast breakaway one-handed hammer. The sequence of baskets had Oregon coach Chris Siebert call a full timeout, but by then the damage was done and Monroe led 32-10.
“I give the guys credit — we didn’t practice yesterday (Jan. 31) because of the weather. We decided to just take the day off because there was no day to push anything. And these guys were focused (today),” Bassett said.
Assistant coach Ken Gratz writes down all the plays of the opposing team in a scouting report that is shared in a Google document with Bassett and the other assistant coaches, who them share the information with the players, who can view it at any time.
“We’re seeing plays and these guys knew everything down in the locker room. They’re doing their studies, and it’s not just 1-through-5, it’s 1-through-12. They know exactly what the other team is going to run. That’s fun to see.”
The Cheesemakers went into the locker room leading 41-22 and never let Oregon find a rhythm when it mattered in the second half. Monroe outscored the Panthers 24-11 in the second half before pulling the starters and going to a lineup full of reserves.
“Then the hack squad came in, and that’s their new nickname — two games in a row they’ve doubled up our fouls for the game in the final four minutes,” Bassett said.
Monroe is ranked No. 5 in the state in Division 2 in the latest WisSports.net Coaches Poll. The Cheesemakers have just two regular season games remaining before the playoffs — Feb. 5 at Beaver Dam (14-4), then a Feb. 12 date with Middleton (1-2), which just began its season at the end of January.
The regional seeding meeting is coming up this weekend as well, and Monroe and Edgerton are expected to quarrel over the top seed.
“It’s in the back of my mind, I’ll say that. Hopefully we get what I think we deserve, but we’re going against five Rock Valley schools, so who knows what we’ll get — we could get the six seed,” Bassett said.
The Cheesemakers (11-1) are not just ranked among the best in the state, but have played one of the tougher 12-game schedules in Wisconsin. Monroe’s opponents are 74-59 overall (.556), with seven of the 10 opponents Division 1 schools, and the other two are D3 teams with a combined record of 27-11. Edgerton’s opponents are 126-118 (.516), with five of the 17 being D1, eight D2 and four D3. Thirteen of Edgerton’s games have been against Rock Valley schools, of which just four of the 10 teams have won more than eight games. More than 1/3 of Edgerton’s wins have come in six games against league bottom-feeders Clinton (0-13), Jefferson (2-19), Turner (4-12) and Big Foot (7-15), which collectively boasts a combined 13-59 record (.180).
Monroe had hoped to get a waiver to join the Rock Valley before the season, but the Badger Conference denied it. “I think we would have done OK against them,” Bassett said.
The only two squads Monroe and Edgerton has as common opponents so far this season are Janesville Parker and Janesville Craig.
