Madison East over Verona

Verona controlled nearly the entire game but, in the end they couldn't hold off the one two punch of 5'11 sophomore Nimrod Hilliard and 6'4 junior Marquis Mason, who lead East to a 69-64 win. Verona star 6'4 senior Jason Ziemer did all he could scoring 33 points but, in the end he just didn't get any help from his teammates.

Early on Madison East struggled against Verona's tough man to man defense and their double teaming of their star Mason on the inside. Verona had 6'4 defensive stopper junior Sam Karls fronting Mason while they had another 6'4 player on the weak side in either Ziemer or junior Adam Wadzinski. While Verona's defense was focused on Mason , East point guard Hilliard was able to take over and carry the team. On the other side East was in a 1-2-2 zone defense and Verona was able to take advantage of this with offensive rebounds. The zone by East was a good decision because Verona was unable to knock down the three point shot but, the zone allowed Verona to get numerous offensive rebounds in particular Ziemer, which led to the majority of Ziemer's points. Late in the first half Mason was finally able to get things going using his strength and jumping ability score against the Verona double team. At the half Mason had 10 and Hilliard 12, not sure on Ziemer but, guessing around 15 or so.

In the second half both teams came out with the same game plan for the most part but, just like the Madison Memorial game East decided to go with their bench which helped East climb back into the game late in the third and midway through the fourth take the lead. Verona senior 6'0 Travis Schaaf hit his second three pointer in the third but, Hilliard answered back with a three of his own to keep the game close. East turned the pressure up in the fourth quarter forcing Verona into turnovers which East was able to convert on. Mason put an exclamation point on the game by throwing down a windmill dunk just after the buzzer sounded.

Top Players
Jason Ziemer 6'4 senior Verona- Tireless rebounder that takes the ball to the hoop hard every time.
Marquis Mason 6'4 junior Madison East- Just out jumps opponents to score and is typically stronger then his defenders.
Nimrod Hilliard 5'11 sophomore Madison East- Nearly impossible to stay in front of and probably pushed double digits in steals.
DeAndre Galligan 5'10 junior Madison East- Once again came off the bench huge scoring 10 points.

Box Score
Verona 64- Ziemer 33 Karls 7 Schaaf 7 Wadzinski 6 Taylor Peterson 6 Matt Ropel 5 Scott Plato 0 Kaden Nauman 0 Sam Riebau 0
Madison East 69- Hilliard 21 Mason 20 Yamil Bacallao 10 Galligan 10 Jeff Hull 6 Stafford Park 2 James Bartelt 0 Drew McAdams 0

Verona is an extremely tough team to play but, right now they need someone to help Ziemer in the scoring column. Whether they get that scoring help or not Verona will be a very tough out come playoff time. Right now Madison East is playing great basketball and it appears that there will be conference title on the line when they match up with Memorial in round two. With the way their bench is playing right now they might be the one team that has the overall team depth to play with Madison Memorial the entire game.