SUN PRAIRIE - The Monroe Cheesemakers' boys basketball fortunes were written some time ago, apparently, and stuffed into a cookie.
"I opened up a fortune cookie on March 1st at the World Buffet, and it said, 'No obstacles will come in the way of your success this month'," Monroe coach Pat Murphy said.
"We've put that on every single of of our scouting reports, and tonight we gut one out."
In the end, no obstacle stood in the way of Monroe reaching a third straight state tournament - something no other Cheesemaker hoops team has done. It earned this trip with a hard-fought 44-42 win over Badger South rival and co-champion Madison Edgewood in Saturday's Division 2 sectional final in Waunakee.
The game wasn't easy, especially considering Mitch Tordoff had one of his worst games from the field, finishing with just three points.
"It's called a team for a reason," Tordoff said. "Some guys struggle some nights and others have to step up. That's what happened."
Filling in for the Cheesemakers were sophomore guards Michael Barrett (12 points) and Bryan Tordoff (9), and seniors Jake Grinnell (7) and Mitch McArdle (11).
"It says a lot about our team when Mitch Tordoff can have such a bad night shooting and we still come away with a win," Murphy said. "To beat Edgewood for a third time in a grind-it-out win in the sectional final is a humbling experience."
Monroe (18-7) swept the season series against Edgewood (19-5), with the second win coming in Madison in overtime. Since that game Jan. 16, Edgewood hadn't lost.
The Cheesemakers struggled shooting early on, thanks in large part to a stingy Crusader defense. Edgewood jumped out to a 9-5 lead in the first three minutes and went up by as many as seven points (14-7) in the final minutes of the first.
"They were getting a lot of easy buckets. Our defense was sagging and they hit a lot of shots," Murphy said.
Edgewood led 17-12 after the first quarter and extended the advantage to 10 points with 5 minutes, 44 seconds left after a 3-pointer by Patrick Lagman.
"We were struggling on defense. Coach told us to tighten up on defense, so we did," Mitch Tordoff said.
Tordoff found Grinnell in the paint on Monroe's next possession to trim the lead to eight. The Cheese then got its only hoop from Mitch Tordoff nearly two minutes later. Barrett scored with 2:20 left in the half and Bryan Tordoff hit a jumper with 1:52 left to cap an 8-0 Monroe run.
Edgewood head coach Chris Zwettler called a timeout to try and regroup his team. Edgewood got two more buckets in the half, but led only 26-22, with the momentum shifting to the Cheese.
"The guys were mad (at halftime). They knew what was going on. I just told them that we knew Edgewood wasn't going to hit every shot," Murphy said.
Barrett got the third quarter rolling by hitting a jumper just 13 seconds into the frame.
"Mitch needed someone to step up and hit some shots. I stepped in and hit some bunnies, and it felt good," Barrett said. "It's going to be so cool to go shoot around at the Kohl Center."
A few possessions later, trailing 26-24, McArdle missed a wide-open 3. Grinnell outbid an Edgewood defender for the rebound and flipped the rock back to McArdle, who was standing in virtually the same spot.
"I never usually miss two in a row. I knew it was going in," McArdle said.
He wasn't lying. The senior guard drained the second shot from distance and Monroe held its first lead since Grinnell sank a 3 in the opening two minutes of the game.
Edgewood responded by scoring the next four points, only to have the Cheese go on another seven-point run.
Monroe led 34-33 with just seconds remaining in the third. McArdle again took a set-play triple with under three seconds left, but missed. Grinnell was sitting under the hoop and went up for the tip-in at the buzzer to give Monroe a 36-33 lead headed into the fourth.
"I'm really proud of Jake Grinnell. He's what Monroe basketball is all about - work your tail off for three years then get a chance to start your senior year," Murphy said.
In the fourth, senior Cullen Sampson swished in a jumper from just beyond the free throw line to give Monroe a five-point lead.
"Cullen's defense against Michael Eshun late in the game was huge. (Eshun) was taking a lot of shots. And then Cullen hits that big jumper to put us up by five. He played a great game," Murphy said.
Edgewood worked its way back to a tie at 38-38, but Bryan Tordoff knocked down a 3 with 4:51 remaining.
The Crusaders, who hit seemingly every shot in the first half, continued their cold streak down the stretch. After tying the score at 38 with 5:13 left, Edgewood didn't get back on the board until the 1:14 mark. By then, Monroe had upped its lead to five points again.
After a pair of scoreless defensive possessions, Sampson received the ball in the left corner while running a minute stall. He faked a pass back out to the wing and found a cutting Barrett slashing backdoor. Barrett was left all alone in the paint and easily put the ball in the hoop with 2:17 left, proving to be the last points Monroe needed.
As the final minutes ensued, Monroe got to the line five times on four fouls. McArdle missed the first bonus attempt, Mitch Tordoff missed the second, Bryan Tordoff missed the third, and Mitch Tordoff went 1-for-2 seconds later.
"Usually we make free throws. And Mitch especially. He must shoot somewhere like 95 percent," Murphy said of Mitch Tordoff's 1-for-3 bid at the charity stripe.
Edgewood had the ball in the closing seconds and got off a pair of shots. Despite having big man Derek Braucht and three others in the paint in the closing seconds, the Crusaders couldn't get a rebound and bucket to close it out. Instead, with the ball sitting loose on the floor and five players trying to grasp it, it was McArdle, the shortest player on either team, who came out with the rebound.
"It was crazy. I didn't know what was going on. I saw the ball rolling around and McArdle, the smallest guy on the floor, comes out with it. Go figure. It's the story of his life," Grinnell said.
McArdle dashed to the left sideline, sprinted up court as time expired, chucked the ball into the air and was mauled by his teammates in front of the Monroe student section.
"I may be the littlest, but I was going to come out with it no matter what. I wanted to go to state so bad," McArdle said.
As the team was lost in blissful celebration, Monroe received its third straight sectional championship plaque.
McArdle held Edgewood's Braucht to just 11 points in the game. Braucht averaged nearly 20 points in all of his games against everyone but Monroe. McArdle, at 5-feet, 9-inches, held Braucht, 6-6, to 8, 15 and 11 points in three games this season.
"(McArdle) just refused to lose. He works harder than anyone on the team. I'm just proud of how well he came out," Murphy said.
This is the first time in school history a basketball team has made it to the state semifinal three straight years.
"Our defense stepped up. They kept plugging away. And in a game like this, there is always going to be someone else that steps up and makes some plays," assistant coach Brian Bassett said.
The Cheesemakers (18-7) have four days to prepare for its next opponent - Appleton Xavier (22-3). The Hawks, who won the Eastern Valley with a 17-1 conference record, defeated Seymour, 47-32, Saturday to punch their ticket to state.
Appleton has three players who average double-figures in points: Jonathan Burns, Dan Klister and Ollie Livengood.
Tickets for Friday's game at the Kohl Center go on sale Tuesday morning at Ruf's Confectionary on the Square, as well as at the Monroe High School office, and will be available until 9 a.m. Thursday or until all the tickets are sold.
Monroe's game will be a half-hour after the conclusion of the other D-2 semifinal between Wisconsin Lutheran and Northwestern, which is scheduled to begin at 1:35 p.m. Friday.
"I opened up a fortune cookie on March 1st at the World Buffet, and it said, 'No obstacles will come in the way of your success this month'," Monroe coach Pat Murphy said.
"We've put that on every single of of our scouting reports, and tonight we gut one out."
In the end, no obstacle stood in the way of Monroe reaching a third straight state tournament - something no other Cheesemaker hoops team has done. It earned this trip with a hard-fought 44-42 win over Badger South rival and co-champion Madison Edgewood in Saturday's Division 2 sectional final in Waunakee.
The game wasn't easy, especially considering Mitch Tordoff had one of his worst games from the field, finishing with just three points.
"It's called a team for a reason," Tordoff said. "Some guys struggle some nights and others have to step up. That's what happened."
Filling in for the Cheesemakers were sophomore guards Michael Barrett (12 points) and Bryan Tordoff (9), and seniors Jake Grinnell (7) and Mitch McArdle (11).
"It says a lot about our team when Mitch Tordoff can have such a bad night shooting and we still come away with a win," Murphy said. "To beat Edgewood for a third time in a grind-it-out win in the sectional final is a humbling experience."
Monroe (18-7) swept the season series against Edgewood (19-5), with the second win coming in Madison in overtime. Since that game Jan. 16, Edgewood hadn't lost.
The Cheesemakers struggled shooting early on, thanks in large part to a stingy Crusader defense. Edgewood jumped out to a 9-5 lead in the first three minutes and went up by as many as seven points (14-7) in the final minutes of the first.
"They were getting a lot of easy buckets. Our defense was sagging and they hit a lot of shots," Murphy said.
Edgewood led 17-12 after the first quarter and extended the advantage to 10 points with 5 minutes, 44 seconds left after a 3-pointer by Patrick Lagman.
"We were struggling on defense. Coach told us to tighten up on defense, so we did," Mitch Tordoff said.
Tordoff found Grinnell in the paint on Monroe's next possession to trim the lead to eight. The Cheese then got its only hoop from Mitch Tordoff nearly two minutes later. Barrett scored with 2:20 left in the half and Bryan Tordoff hit a jumper with 1:52 left to cap an 8-0 Monroe run.
Edgewood head coach Chris Zwettler called a timeout to try and regroup his team. Edgewood got two more buckets in the half, but led only 26-22, with the momentum shifting to the Cheese.
"The guys were mad (at halftime). They knew what was going on. I just told them that we knew Edgewood wasn't going to hit every shot," Murphy said.
Barrett got the third quarter rolling by hitting a jumper just 13 seconds into the frame.
"Mitch needed someone to step up and hit some shots. I stepped in and hit some bunnies, and it felt good," Barrett said. "It's going to be so cool to go shoot around at the Kohl Center."
A few possessions later, trailing 26-24, McArdle missed a wide-open 3. Grinnell outbid an Edgewood defender for the rebound and flipped the rock back to McArdle, who was standing in virtually the same spot.
"I never usually miss two in a row. I knew it was going in," McArdle said.
He wasn't lying. The senior guard drained the second shot from distance and Monroe held its first lead since Grinnell sank a 3 in the opening two minutes of the game.
Edgewood responded by scoring the next four points, only to have the Cheese go on another seven-point run.
Monroe led 34-33 with just seconds remaining in the third. McArdle again took a set-play triple with under three seconds left, but missed. Grinnell was sitting under the hoop and went up for the tip-in at the buzzer to give Monroe a 36-33 lead headed into the fourth.
"I'm really proud of Jake Grinnell. He's what Monroe basketball is all about - work your tail off for three years then get a chance to start your senior year," Murphy said.
In the fourth, senior Cullen Sampson swished in a jumper from just beyond the free throw line to give Monroe a five-point lead.
"Cullen's defense against Michael Eshun late in the game was huge. (Eshun) was taking a lot of shots. And then Cullen hits that big jumper to put us up by five. He played a great game," Murphy said.
Edgewood worked its way back to a tie at 38-38, but Bryan Tordoff knocked down a 3 with 4:51 remaining.
The Crusaders, who hit seemingly every shot in the first half, continued their cold streak down the stretch. After tying the score at 38 with 5:13 left, Edgewood didn't get back on the board until the 1:14 mark. By then, Monroe had upped its lead to five points again.
After a pair of scoreless defensive possessions, Sampson received the ball in the left corner while running a minute stall. He faked a pass back out to the wing and found a cutting Barrett slashing backdoor. Barrett was left all alone in the paint and easily put the ball in the hoop with 2:17 left, proving to be the last points Monroe needed.
As the final minutes ensued, Monroe got to the line five times on four fouls. McArdle missed the first bonus attempt, Mitch Tordoff missed the second, Bryan Tordoff missed the third, and Mitch Tordoff went 1-for-2 seconds later.
"Usually we make free throws. And Mitch especially. He must shoot somewhere like 95 percent," Murphy said of Mitch Tordoff's 1-for-3 bid at the charity stripe.
Edgewood had the ball in the closing seconds and got off a pair of shots. Despite having big man Derek Braucht and three others in the paint in the closing seconds, the Crusaders couldn't get a rebound and bucket to close it out. Instead, with the ball sitting loose on the floor and five players trying to grasp it, it was McArdle, the shortest player on either team, who came out with the rebound.
"It was crazy. I didn't know what was going on. I saw the ball rolling around and McArdle, the smallest guy on the floor, comes out with it. Go figure. It's the story of his life," Grinnell said.
McArdle dashed to the left sideline, sprinted up court as time expired, chucked the ball into the air and was mauled by his teammates in front of the Monroe student section.
"I may be the littlest, but I was going to come out with it no matter what. I wanted to go to state so bad," McArdle said.
As the team was lost in blissful celebration, Monroe received its third straight sectional championship plaque.
McArdle held Edgewood's Braucht to just 11 points in the game. Braucht averaged nearly 20 points in all of his games against everyone but Monroe. McArdle, at 5-feet, 9-inches, held Braucht, 6-6, to 8, 15 and 11 points in three games this season.
"(McArdle) just refused to lose. He works harder than anyone on the team. I'm just proud of how well he came out," Murphy said.
This is the first time in school history a basketball team has made it to the state semifinal three straight years.
"Our defense stepped up. They kept plugging away. And in a game like this, there is always going to be someone else that steps up and makes some plays," assistant coach Brian Bassett said.
The Cheesemakers (18-7) have four days to prepare for its next opponent - Appleton Xavier (22-3). The Hawks, who won the Eastern Valley with a 17-1 conference record, defeated Seymour, 47-32, Saturday to punch their ticket to state.
Appleton has three players who average double-figures in points: Jonathan Burns, Dan Klister and Ollie Livengood.
Tickets for Friday's game at the Kohl Center go on sale Tuesday morning at Ruf's Confectionary on the Square, as well as at the Monroe High School office, and will be available until 9 a.m. Thursday or until all the tickets are sold.
Monroe's game will be a half-hour after the conclusion of the other D-2 semifinal between Wisconsin Lutheran and Northwestern, which is scheduled to begin at 1:35 p.m. Friday.
