MONROE - Just stick to the script and everything will be all right.
The Monroe-Madison Edgewood matchup Thursday night in Monroe had the plotlines everyone expected.
Slow and plodding play. Feisty defense. Minimal scoring. Ulimately, a 39-26 Monroe victory.
The Cheesemakers (11-0 overall, 7-0 Badger South) built their customary 6-0 lead in the first few minutes behind Mitch Tordoff, Brett Stangel and Tony Cates. Edgewood (4-7, 3-4 Badger South) rallied back and then passed Monroe behind a Matt Lindholm triple from right of the key to take an 8-6 lead.
Freshman Bryan Tordoff knotted the game back up at the first-quarter buzzer by cleaning up his older brother Mitch's long-range miss with a hanging putback while falling to his right.
After trading baskets in the early stages of the second quarter, senior Jake Gross keyed a late first-half surge for the Cheesemakers. With 2:30 left to play, the gritty role player rebounded his own miss underneath the basket and used the glass to put Monroe up 12-10. After the Crusaders had an empty possesion, Gross reared back from behind the line at the left circle and was money from long range.
With the score 15-13 and Edgewood looking to tie things up and grab the halftime momentum, Gross snuck up and poked the ball away from Edgewood junior Patrick Lagman. The ball went right to senior Brett Stangel for an easy layin with nine ticks left to give Monroe a 17-13 lead at intermission.
Monroe head coach Pat Murphy relishes players like Gross - who finished with five points - and junior Mitch McArdle that step up in those key junctures of a game and don't shy away from pressure.
"It's guys like that," Murphy said, "when they get moments out there you've got to come out and want to make plays in game like this. You can't hide on the floor, you can't hide on the bench. In a game like this, it only takes one or two plays to change momentum."
While Gross' and Monroe's play at the end of the second could've been a back-breaker for the Crusaders, head coach Chris Zwettler had his boys jacked up when play resumed. Senior Connor Meloy drilled a triple from the top of the key to cut the deficit to one at 17-16. On the ensuing Monroe possession, Derek Braucht intercepted a Chase Sellnow pass, slowed the break down and found Lagman on the left block for two and the lead. Murphy immediately called timeout with 7:21 to go and pushed the right buttons to reignite the Cheesemakers' fire.
"You've got to work harder than them and you've got to run a little bit more crisp than they do," Gross said. "In the third quarter, they were running it a little bit better and we were getting lazy on 'D.'"
Junior point guard Mitch Tordoff - who led Monroe and tied with Lindholm for a game-high 10 points - didn't bury his 3-pointers at the beginning of the halves like he typically does to quell any thoughts of an opponent's victory. He also was disappointed with the lack of desire the team had to open the second half.
"We didn't come out with that spark that we usually do," Tordoff said. "We knew it was going to be a low-possesion game like it always is with Edgewood."
Murphy's quick timeout led to a 10-0 Cheesemakers run to close the third quarter and give Monroe a season sweep of Edgewood. Cates kickstarted the run with an easy two from the right block, while Stangel blew it open with a 3 from left of the circle. The run ended with the Tordoffs meeting up with McArdle for a layin. Bryan got on the trampoline and blocked a Braucht shot and the ball found its way over to Mitch, who pushed it up the left sideline and dropped a crisp pass to McArdle. McArdle let the persuing Edgewood defense overrun him and put it in for a 27-18 lead.
Thursday's victory gives Monroe a 7-5 edge in the Murphy era in a series in which the average outcome is four points.
"The thing that made me most proud is when we came out in the third quarter and didn't really do anything. Timeout. Then they come out and put it right away," Murphy said. "Obviously, you want them to play with a sense of urgency throughout the game, but we made shots when we had to."
Zwettler can only hope his Edgewood squad can take a lesson from the top team in Division 2 basketball.
"They showed us how to close out a game tonight," Zwettler said.
The Monroe-Madison Edgewood matchup Thursday night in Monroe had the plotlines everyone expected.
Slow and plodding play. Feisty defense. Minimal scoring. Ulimately, a 39-26 Monroe victory.
The Cheesemakers (11-0 overall, 7-0 Badger South) built their customary 6-0 lead in the first few minutes behind Mitch Tordoff, Brett Stangel and Tony Cates. Edgewood (4-7, 3-4 Badger South) rallied back and then passed Monroe behind a Matt Lindholm triple from right of the key to take an 8-6 lead.
Freshman Bryan Tordoff knotted the game back up at the first-quarter buzzer by cleaning up his older brother Mitch's long-range miss with a hanging putback while falling to his right.
After trading baskets in the early stages of the second quarter, senior Jake Gross keyed a late first-half surge for the Cheesemakers. With 2:30 left to play, the gritty role player rebounded his own miss underneath the basket and used the glass to put Monroe up 12-10. After the Crusaders had an empty possesion, Gross reared back from behind the line at the left circle and was money from long range.
With the score 15-13 and Edgewood looking to tie things up and grab the halftime momentum, Gross snuck up and poked the ball away from Edgewood junior Patrick Lagman. The ball went right to senior Brett Stangel for an easy layin with nine ticks left to give Monroe a 17-13 lead at intermission.
Monroe head coach Pat Murphy relishes players like Gross - who finished with five points - and junior Mitch McArdle that step up in those key junctures of a game and don't shy away from pressure.
"It's guys like that," Murphy said, "when they get moments out there you've got to come out and want to make plays in game like this. You can't hide on the floor, you can't hide on the bench. In a game like this, it only takes one or two plays to change momentum."
While Gross' and Monroe's play at the end of the second could've been a back-breaker for the Crusaders, head coach Chris Zwettler had his boys jacked up when play resumed. Senior Connor Meloy drilled a triple from the top of the key to cut the deficit to one at 17-16. On the ensuing Monroe possession, Derek Braucht intercepted a Chase Sellnow pass, slowed the break down and found Lagman on the left block for two and the lead. Murphy immediately called timeout with 7:21 to go and pushed the right buttons to reignite the Cheesemakers' fire.
"You've got to work harder than them and you've got to run a little bit more crisp than they do," Gross said. "In the third quarter, they were running it a little bit better and we were getting lazy on 'D.'"
Junior point guard Mitch Tordoff - who led Monroe and tied with Lindholm for a game-high 10 points - didn't bury his 3-pointers at the beginning of the halves like he typically does to quell any thoughts of an opponent's victory. He also was disappointed with the lack of desire the team had to open the second half.
"We didn't come out with that spark that we usually do," Tordoff said. "We knew it was going to be a low-possesion game like it always is with Edgewood."
Murphy's quick timeout led to a 10-0 Cheesemakers run to close the third quarter and give Monroe a season sweep of Edgewood. Cates kickstarted the run with an easy two from the right block, while Stangel blew it open with a 3 from left of the circle. The run ended with the Tordoffs meeting up with McArdle for a layin. Bryan got on the trampoline and blocked a Braucht shot and the ball found its way over to Mitch, who pushed it up the left sideline and dropped a crisp pass to McArdle. McArdle let the persuing Edgewood defense overrun him and put it in for a 27-18 lead.
Thursday's victory gives Monroe a 7-5 edge in the Murphy era in a series in which the average outcome is four points.
"The thing that made me most proud is when we came out in the third quarter and didn't really do anything. Timeout. Then they come out and put it right away," Murphy said. "Obviously, you want them to play with a sense of urgency throughout the game, but we made shots when we had to."
Zwettler can only hope his Edgewood squad can take a lesson from the top team in Division 2 basketball.
"They showed us how to close out a game tonight," Zwettler said.
