MILTON - The Monroe boys basketball team continued to be road warriors Friday night, as the Cheesemakers traveled to Milton and knocked off the Red Hawks 54-34 in a Badger South battle.
The victory was Monroe's seventh straight, all of which have come away from their home gym. The Cheesemakers are now 8-0 on the road this season.
"To come on the road and win in their gym, that's never an easy task," said Monroe coach Pat Murphy.
The Cheesemakers stifled the Milton offense in the first half, giving up only 11 points to take a 23-11 lead into halftime. Both teams offenses found more success in the second half, as Monroe outscored the Red Hawks 31-23 after halftime. Murphy said the Cheesemakers did a good job of sticking to the scouting report on defense.
"I can't stress enough how much time and energy we put into scouting reports. I think this group takes it seriously," he said. "We tried to take away their main scorer. I think Trent (Wyssbrod) did a good job on him, and (Ben) Murray guarded him some too. It's always good when we take away what the other team wants to do."
Monroe found plenty of success at the free throw line, knocking down 15 of 16 attempts from the charity stripe. The Cheesemakers also had two players score in double figures. Joe Latimer led the Cheese with 18 points, and Alex Barenklau contributed 16.
"It's one of those deals where they (Latimer and Barenklau) found themselves some openings and guys got them the ball," Murphy said. "In the second half we were a lot more efficient. I thought we were better as the game went on as far as finding the open man."
Monroe (11-1, 4-1) hits the road again tonight when they travel to Freeport to take on the Pretzels in the "Snack Bowl." Murphy said the Cheesemakers will need to stick to the fundamentals if they are going to pull out the 'W.'
"We got to find a way to keep them out of the lane," he said. "Last year they ran past us and got lots of transition points. We know they'll run a 1-2-2 zone. It's definitely a different style. They play Illinois basketball and there will be Illinois officials. All of us have to stick to our fundamentals."
Murphy also said it's hard to call the Monroe-Freeport series a rivalry at this point.
"It's hard to call it a rivalry when only one team's winning, and that hasn't been us. We're 1-4 against Freeport."
The victory was Monroe's seventh straight, all of which have come away from their home gym. The Cheesemakers are now 8-0 on the road this season.
"To come on the road and win in their gym, that's never an easy task," said Monroe coach Pat Murphy.
The Cheesemakers stifled the Milton offense in the first half, giving up only 11 points to take a 23-11 lead into halftime. Both teams offenses found more success in the second half, as Monroe outscored the Red Hawks 31-23 after halftime. Murphy said the Cheesemakers did a good job of sticking to the scouting report on defense.
"I can't stress enough how much time and energy we put into scouting reports. I think this group takes it seriously," he said. "We tried to take away their main scorer. I think Trent (Wyssbrod) did a good job on him, and (Ben) Murray guarded him some too. It's always good when we take away what the other team wants to do."
Monroe found plenty of success at the free throw line, knocking down 15 of 16 attempts from the charity stripe. The Cheesemakers also had two players score in double figures. Joe Latimer led the Cheese with 18 points, and Alex Barenklau contributed 16.
"It's one of those deals where they (Latimer and Barenklau) found themselves some openings and guys got them the ball," Murphy said. "In the second half we were a lot more efficient. I thought we were better as the game went on as far as finding the open man."
Monroe (11-1, 4-1) hits the road again tonight when they travel to Freeport to take on the Pretzels in the "Snack Bowl." Murphy said the Cheesemakers will need to stick to the fundamentals if they are going to pull out the 'W.'
"We got to find a way to keep them out of the lane," he said. "Last year they ran past us and got lots of transition points. We know they'll run a 1-2-2 zone. It's definitely a different style. They play Illinois basketball and there will be Illinois officials. All of us have to stick to our fundamentals."
Murphy also said it's hard to call the Monroe-Freeport series a rivalry at this point.
"It's hard to call it a rivalry when only one team's winning, and that hasn't been us. We're 1-4 against Freeport."
