MONROE - There must be something in the Gatorade bottles on the Cheesemakers' bench. After Michael Barrett hit a jumper in the lane on Jan. 19 to knock off Stoughton on the road, Mitch Tordoff hit a 3-pointer from 26-feet away from the left wing to knock off the Vikings a second time.
"I was just hoping to get a shot off, let alone a game winner," Tordoff said of his desperation shot that beat Stoughton 34-32 Friday night.
After getting visibly outplayed much of the day, Monroe found themselves down just by one point with 21 seconds to play. The Cheesemakers defense forced Stoughton into two timeouts and a jump ball, but a missed lay up by Jake Grinnell with under eight seconds to play looked to put Monroe on the short end of the stick.
Mitch McArdle was forced to foul Vikings big man Matt Salby with 4.3 seconds left. Salby missed his bonus free throw and Tordoff was off to the races down the sideline.
"The rule of thumb is that you have one dribble for every second you have left on the clock. I think he took at least three or four," Cheesemakers head coach Pat Murphy said.
With a stacked crowd on the edge of their feet - and Monroe assistant Brian Bassett with his head down on the floor - Tordoff sent up a prayer from just beyond the 'C', banking in the basket.
"I fell to the ground because I thought it was off left," Bassett said.
Murphy was glad to get a win.
"I thought from the get-go we were on our heels and (Stoughton was) in control. They were the more aggressive team," he said. "My hats off to Stoughton. They busted their butt."
Monroe started the game on fire. In front of a packed crowd dressed in black, Bryan Tordoff took a steal in for a lay up just 13 seconds into the game. Mitch Tordoff hit a 3-pointer on the next possession to give the Cheese a 5-0 lead. From there, the shots stopped falling.
Stoughton scored the next 11 points, as Monroe was held scoreless for 10 minutes and 33 seconds. Zach Rast broke the scoring drought in the second quarter, taking a steal off an inbound pass in for the left-handed layup.
Barrett hit a 3 with 2:37 left to play in the half, but the Vikings led 17-10 at the break.
In the second half, Monroe came out with some extra fuel. Mitch Tordoff scored in the post and nailed a 3-pointer to bring the score to 17-15. Tordoff scored 17 of his 20 points in the second half, including four 3-pointers.
Monroe still found themselves behind headed into the fourth, 24-21. Stoughton's defense had shut down the Cheesemakers for much of the night, so Murphy decided to go old school with his offense.
"Coach (Ken) Gratz had a great suggestion. He said we should try going back to run just the basic swing - up screens and back screens and try to get something to happen," Murphy said.
Down seven, McArdle hit a pull-up 3-pointer with 5:09 left in the half to bring the score back to within four at 29-25.
As the game came down to the wire, Monroe's defense turned tenacious. The Cheesemakers caused Stoughton to call its final four timeouts over the last two minutes of the game - two of them on inbound plays. The succession of great defense and poor free throw shooting for the Vikings (3-for-11 in the game) allowed for Tordoff's final shot to get launched.
"This is still one of the elite places to play," Murphy said of his homecourt. "You get the home crowd in here and the student body cheering like that is awesome. This is my favorite place to play."
In the end, the season sweep over Stoughton (6-6, 4-3 Badger South) gets the Cheesemakers (8-3, 7-0) one game closer to the Badger South crown.
"I'm just living for the regular season right now. It's my senior year and I'm just trying to go out on top in the Badger Conference," Mitch Tordoff said. Last Saturday in Monroe's win over Rock Island Alleman, Tordoff became just the eighth boys player to score 1,000 career points at MHS.
With four games coming down to a final shot so far this season, excitement is not hard to find.
"It's huge to have these games," McArdle said of his team's growing confidence. We played outplayed all game and come out with the victory - that's almost unheard of."
Monroe gets back to work tonight, as the Murphy's team will make the long trek up to Reedsburg (5-8, 2-5 Badger North) to play the Beavers.
"I was just hoping to get a shot off, let alone a game winner," Tordoff said of his desperation shot that beat Stoughton 34-32 Friday night.
After getting visibly outplayed much of the day, Monroe found themselves down just by one point with 21 seconds to play. The Cheesemakers defense forced Stoughton into two timeouts and a jump ball, but a missed lay up by Jake Grinnell with under eight seconds to play looked to put Monroe on the short end of the stick.
Mitch McArdle was forced to foul Vikings big man Matt Salby with 4.3 seconds left. Salby missed his bonus free throw and Tordoff was off to the races down the sideline.
"The rule of thumb is that you have one dribble for every second you have left on the clock. I think he took at least three or four," Cheesemakers head coach Pat Murphy said.
With a stacked crowd on the edge of their feet - and Monroe assistant Brian Bassett with his head down on the floor - Tordoff sent up a prayer from just beyond the 'C', banking in the basket.
"I fell to the ground because I thought it was off left," Bassett said.
Murphy was glad to get a win.
"I thought from the get-go we were on our heels and (Stoughton was) in control. They were the more aggressive team," he said. "My hats off to Stoughton. They busted their butt."
Monroe started the game on fire. In front of a packed crowd dressed in black, Bryan Tordoff took a steal in for a lay up just 13 seconds into the game. Mitch Tordoff hit a 3-pointer on the next possession to give the Cheese a 5-0 lead. From there, the shots stopped falling.
Stoughton scored the next 11 points, as Monroe was held scoreless for 10 minutes and 33 seconds. Zach Rast broke the scoring drought in the second quarter, taking a steal off an inbound pass in for the left-handed layup.
Barrett hit a 3 with 2:37 left to play in the half, but the Vikings led 17-10 at the break.
In the second half, Monroe came out with some extra fuel. Mitch Tordoff scored in the post and nailed a 3-pointer to bring the score to 17-15. Tordoff scored 17 of his 20 points in the second half, including four 3-pointers.
Monroe still found themselves behind headed into the fourth, 24-21. Stoughton's defense had shut down the Cheesemakers for much of the night, so Murphy decided to go old school with his offense.
"Coach (Ken) Gratz had a great suggestion. He said we should try going back to run just the basic swing - up screens and back screens and try to get something to happen," Murphy said.
Down seven, McArdle hit a pull-up 3-pointer with 5:09 left in the half to bring the score back to within four at 29-25.
As the game came down to the wire, Monroe's defense turned tenacious. The Cheesemakers caused Stoughton to call its final four timeouts over the last two minutes of the game - two of them on inbound plays. The succession of great defense and poor free throw shooting for the Vikings (3-for-11 in the game) allowed for Tordoff's final shot to get launched.
"This is still one of the elite places to play," Murphy said of his homecourt. "You get the home crowd in here and the student body cheering like that is awesome. This is my favorite place to play."
In the end, the season sweep over Stoughton (6-6, 4-3 Badger South) gets the Cheesemakers (8-3, 7-0) one game closer to the Badger South crown.
"I'm just living for the regular season right now. It's my senior year and I'm just trying to go out on top in the Badger Conference," Mitch Tordoff said. Last Saturday in Monroe's win over Rock Island Alleman, Tordoff became just the eighth boys player to score 1,000 career points at MHS.
With four games coming down to a final shot so far this season, excitement is not hard to find.
"It's huge to have these games," McArdle said of his team's growing confidence. We played outplayed all game and come out with the victory - that's almost unheard of."
Monroe gets back to work tonight, as the Murphy's team will make the long trek up to Reedsburg (5-8, 2-5 Badger North) to play the Beavers.
