Madison East Upsets Madison Memorial

It what may of been the game of the year Madison East upset Madison Memorial 53-44. The story of this game came down to Memorial's inability to knock down the outside shot and turning the ball over late in the game. For Madison East it was the big play of their bench at the end of the game as the finished the game with three bench players.

From the beginning of the game East was in a zone which they remained in for much of the game. The zone led to lots of open looks for Memorial from the outside but, they were unable to knock them down. On the other side Memorial played their traditional trapping defense which really gave the East sides some trouble. The solid defense by both teams led to a low scoring 20-16 lead for Memorial at halftime. Memorial star 6'7 senior Jeronne Maymon had a pretty big half scoring 10 first half points so half of Memorial's points. On the other side East's star 6'4 junior Marquis Mason had seven of his teams 16 points.

The second half continued much the same as the first half with the tough defense of both teams. Memorial continued to miss shots as Maymon missed a total of 10 shots while fellow star 6'4 junior Vander Blue missed 11 shots for the game. On the other side of the court Mason started to pick up the scoring thanks largely from the passing on East point guard 5'11 sophomore Nimrod Hilliard. 6'4 junior Tre Creamer did his best to keep Memorial in the game scoring most of his points in the third while Maymon sat the last 3:40 of the third with foul trouble. The fourth quarter was Hilliard's time to shine. For whatever reason East decided to go with three bench players along with Hilliard and Mason to finish of the game. Three juniors 6'1 Drew McAdams, 6'1 Marcel Terry, and 5'10 DeAndre Galligan all finished off the game. Outside of Galligan none of them really scored but, they brought a lot of energy to the game which led to some intense defense that forced Memorial into turnovers. Hilliard seemed to be everywhere and seemed to be part of every basket East had. Whether it was getting the steal to ignite their offense, scoring himself, or passing to the wide open teammate. The biggest plays of the game was a three from the corner by Galligan and then crossover, step back, three by Hilliard that highlighted his 16 point game. With about 1:30 left in the game East was up 47-44 and Blue had a three from the corned to tie the game but, like most of his shots it came up short and that was about they time you new the game was over as East got the rebound. Hilliard and Terry were able to salt the game away with the free throws.

Top Players
Jeronne Maymon 6'7 senior Madison Memorial- May of missed a lot of shots but, still finished with 18 points and 10 rebounds. As I said many times last year he is easily the best rebounder in the state. Needs to bring the intensity for a full game.
Tre Creamer 6'4 junior Madison Memorial- Finally starting to play to his full potential. Did a great job of getting inside and scoring with a floater.
Marquis Mason 6'4 junior Madison East- Just a beast in the paint when he gets the ball. He can just out muscle and out jump most of the guys he goes up against.
Nimrod Hilliard 5'11 sophomore Madison East- Wow is all you can say tonight. Very tough to stay in front of. Really knows when he needs to score and when he needs to look for his teammates. Doesn't look like much but, he really is a big time player.
DeAndre Galligan 5'10 junior Madison East- Came up big off the bench and knocked down a three and scored eight points.

Box Score (starters in bold and italics)
Madison East- Mason 20 Hilliard 16 Galligan 8 James Bartelt 5 Terry 4 McAdams 0 Stafford Park 0 Yamil Bacallao
Madison Memorial- Maymon 18 Creamer 10 Blue 10 Junior Lomomba 6 Xavier Jones 0 Ace Davis 0 Fred Ringhand 0 Eric Fruhling 0

For Madison East the future looks very bright as they finished the game with five underclassmen in the game. On the other side I think Memorial will rebound from this game very strongly and will be tested right away with Verona coming to town in the next game. I believed Memorial had really improved their outside shooting from a year ago but, this game was a huge set back as they failed to make one three pointer. The other thing that bothered me was that only four guys scored in the game for Memorial and they are going to need some help if they want to win the title this year. One final thing was that Vander Blue didn't start for the second time in a row. I don't know if it is a big concern but, just seems strange that one of your stars isn't starting. This just may be because of disciplinary reasons and should be resolved shortly and may be nothing to worry about.