MONROE — The Cheesemakers capped a strong week with a 70-57 win over the Freeport Pretzels in the annual Snack Bowl, held Dec. 31, 2021 at Monroe High School. The week also included winning the championship in the first annual New Glarus Holiday Tournament, defeating Brodhead 69-52 in the semifinals Dec. 27 and then New Glarus in the title game two days later, 53-47.

“When they slowed us down, they had us,” Monroe coach Brian Bassett said of New Glarus. “And that’s why we play teams like this, that plays these defenses, like Freeport. Up until tonight I hadn’t seen a Box-and-1 or a triangle since Brian Tordoff has 17 in the first half in 2008. It’s been a long time.”

Freeport led early on by as much as eight points and held a 20-14 lead with just over seven minutes left in the first half. JT Seagreaves then hit a 3-pointer to make it 20-17, starting a 14-0 run that took the two teams into halftime. Seagreaves had 15 points in the half, including nine straight as the Cheesemakers rallied late to go into locker room ahead 28-20. 

Monroe opened the second half with back-to-back baskets, making it an 18-0 run in total. The Cheesemakers held a double-digit lead for nearly all 18 minutes of the second half. The Pretzels scored on an uncontested 3 as time expired to close the game.

Seagreaves finished with a team-high 25 points with 13 rebounds and four steals. Carson Leuzinger added 19 points and six rebounds. Tucker Markham finished with 11 points and Aaron Roidt had eight.

New Glarus Holiday Tournament

The Cheesemakers were crowned the champions of the first annual New Glarus Holiday Tournament after defeating Brodhead and New Glarus. 

In Monroe’s win over Brodhead on Dec. 27, the Cheesemakers jumped out big in the first half and led 38-20 at halftime. Carson Leuzinger scored 20 points to lead Monroe, while JT Seagreaves and George Brukwicki each finished with 14. 

Owen Leifker had 17 points to lead Brodhead, with Josiah Engen finishing the day with nine and Cullen Walker eight. Leifker left them game just 10 points shy of the 1,000-point milestone for his career.

New Glarus defeated Deerfield 72-56 immediately following the Cardinals-Cheesemakers contest.

The host Glarner Knights led 35-27 after the first half, and outscored the visiting Demons 37-29 in the second half. 

Dain Walter led the way with 18 points in the paint, while Bryce Stampfli scored 16 points, Carter Siegenthaler 15 and AC Strok 13. 

“Hopefully our kids have it in their mindset that we can square up with anybody and play with them — we just have to be more efficient on offense. I love what the defense is doing right now,” New Glarus coach Travis Sysko said. “This was a great test for us going into conference and playing in those big games coming up in January.”

The second day of the tournament was pushed back 24 hours due to a snowstorm. In the third-place game, Brodhead defeated Deerfield 68-55.

The two teams went into halftime separated by just five points, with the Cardinals struggling to find a rhythm on offense and defense thanks to some early foul trouble. Leifker had three fouls in the first half alone, while Brady Malkow and Aidyn Vondra each had two fouls.

Leifker scored nine points in the first half, and with his first basket of the second half reached his milestone, with coach Tommy Meier immediately calling timeout. Leifker had found himself wide open in the paint and scored on an easy layup with 16:25 left in the game.

“It felt really good. I’ve been thinking about it a lot the last two games because I knew I was getting close. It was nice to get that behind me and continue with the rest of the season,” Leifker said.

The senior guard finished the game with 18 points, while classmate Josiah Engen had a game-high 25 and freshman Owen Leifker adding 11. 

The turning point in the contest was Leifker’s milestone basket, as nerves from both himself and his teammates played a role in some timid play. Meier said once the basket was made, his team settled down. 

“The kids knew about it and wanted to get it for him. He’s friends with all those kids and they’ve been playing together for a lot of years, so they were excited to get it done,” Meier said. 

Leifker’s basketball ignited an 18-6 run which ended with Engen going coast-to-coast off a steal and throwing down a thunderous two-handed dunk.

“We’ve been talking to (Engen) for a while, trying to get him to attack the rim and not settle for outside shots — he’s one of the most athletic kids on the court and could attack the rim at any time. I don’t know what got him going tonight, but I hope it stays with him the rest of the year,” Meier said.

In the championship game between Monroe and New Glarus, the Knights jumped out to a 15-7 lead after seven minutes of play. Monroe slowly started working its way back in the closing minutes and took a 26-24 lead into halftime thanks to a steal and layup by Leuzinger with 19 seconds left.

“We scored five points in the first nine minutes of the second half,” Sysko said as his team fell behind on a 25-5 Monroe run. “We had some opportunities underneath and had a tough time. But give credit to Monroe, they might be the best defensive team we’ll see all year. They really get after you.”

Leuzinger’s shot was Monroe’s lone two-point basket of the half. Tucker Markham hit three 3-pointers and Charlie Wiegel added another for the Cheesemakers. Monroe also went 9 of 15 from the free throw line.

“Tucker broke the ice. He was the one kid that didn’t look like he was scared by the moment. There were a lot of guys that didn’t want to shoot tonight, which was weird because some of those guys haven’t been afraid to pull the trigger all year,” Bassett said.

The Cheesemakers expanded their lead to eight points at 37-29 nine minutes into the second half after 3s by George Brukwicki, James Seagreaves and Wiegel. Monroe advantage twice reached as high as 12 points, but a late surge by New Glarus in the final five minutes of the contest brought it down to the wire. 

JT Seagreaves led Monroe with 15 points thanks to a 10-for-12 mark from the charity stripe. Leuzinger and Markham each had nine. 

“Defensively it was an outstanding effort by our boys. They only had three field goals in the last nine minutes — everything else came from the line,” Sysko said. “To hold Carson to about 12 under his average and JT about five under his average — that’s what we talked about. We didn’t think we could shut both of them down, but we could sure try to get one of them. Leuzinger had two field goals.”

Strok led the Knights with 17 points, while Walter and Jack Parman each had 11. Ethan Friedrich tallied eight.

Darlington 66, Lancaster 51

LANCASTER — Easton Evenstad scored 15 points and Will Murray and Hunter Hardyman each had 13 for the Redbirds in a win over the host Arrows at the Lancaster Tournament Dec. 29.

Darlington led 37-31 at halftime and outscored Lancaster by nine in the second half. Carver Fitzsimons had nine rebounds to lead the Redbirds, which had 40 boards as a team. Brady Long and Braden Davis each added nine points. The Redbirds were 20 of 26 from the line.

Parkview 69, Albany 56

ALBANY — The Comets lost to the Vikings in a nonconference game Dec. 30.

Parkview led 30-27 at halftime thanks to 13 points by Trey Oswald and nine from Rusty Klitzman. The pair had an even bigger impact in the second half, scoring 32 of the Vikings’ 39 points. Klitzman finished with 23 points and Oswald had 29.

Carson Brewer had 20 in the game for Albany, while Andy Gertsch had 10 and James Schwartz eight.