Madison Memorial narrowly avoids second straight loss

In a fairly ugly game verse Verona, Madison Memorial was able to avoid their second straight loss of the young season. After seeing Memorial struggle in two straight games it has become very evident that this Memorial team is no where near as good as the teams as previous years and lack that Memorial swagger that past teams have had. In recent years Memorial has always been able to step up the pressure a notch and basically take total control of the game and put the other team away. This year and Memorial looks to apply the pressure it just results in easy baskets for their opponents and put themselves into foul trouble. Whats the difference in this years team? No true dominate big man. In the past they have had Jeronne Maymon, Keaton Nankivil, and Kori Vernon and a slew of college athletes on that team that have been able to sit back and protect the hoop while their teammates were applying the pressure. With all due respect to 6'6 senior Ed Kluender he seems more suited to be a football player then basketball player. He is a very big body that disrupts things on the inside but, doesn't block shots or move well and opponents have no fear of him and take the ball right to the rim. This may be a small problem in the end once the team gels together and figures out their identity that may be slightly different then the former Memorial teams.

Verona was able to get the early first quarter lead of 14-13 behind their ability to get to the rim and draw fouls on the over aggressive Memorial defenders. 6'2 senior Matt Ropel was able to benefit from this the most as he seemed to always be open around the rim and then get fouled and I believe the guy shot 100% from the foul line in the first quarter. In the second quarter Memorial was finally able to push the tempo a little bit in the second quarter and were able to get their main guy 6'4 senior Vander Blue going, which lead to a Memorial lead of 31-28 at half.

In the third quarter Blue kept it going as he scored on three consecutive trips down the court to really get the Memorial fans going but, Verona always counter punched him with wide open lay ups that were a result of Memorials pressing defense. Memorial continued to lead after three quarters with a score of 50-42. In the final quarter a Verona player finally stepped up to challenge Blue and this player was 6'4 senior Sam Karls. Karls had been battling Blue all night long and through most of the game Blue had gotten the better of him but, in the fourth quarter this changed. Karls was able to out hustle Blue, who seemed extremely tired in the fourth quarter, and get lots of second chance buckets while on the other end he seemed to frustrate Blue which led to a push off foul on Blue late in the game. With Blue struggling a bit 6'3 senior Tre Creamer emerged as a fourth quarter hero again and was able to get to the rim and score at will. In the end though Blue was the biggest hero as he was able to draw an offensive foul on Karls which basically sealed the game. Big props to both Creamer and Blue who combined on 7-8 shooting from the foul line in the final minute of the game. Memorial got the 66-60 win.

Top Players
Vadner Blue 6'4 senior Madison Memorial- Blue was his normal solid self a had a good overall game despite seemed extremely fatigued at the end and apparently battling some stomach cramps according to two different sources.
Tre Creamer 6'3 senior Madison Memorial- Like expected Creamer and Blue have stepped up to be Memorial's top go to players and Creamer has seemed ready to meet the expectations and more.
Tre Burnette 6'4 junior Madison Memorial- A superior athlete that needs to be more aggressive when he's in the game and showed some aggression in the game. Burnette was a terror on the boards and that is something Memorial will need all year long.
Matt Ropel 6'2 senior Verona- Unorthodox looking shot but, he can really drop the shots if he's left open.
Sam Karls 6'4 senior Verona- One of the best defenders in the Big Eight and always comes to battle no matter who the opponent is.
Taylor Peterson 6'5 senior Verona- Did a great job of patrolling the offensive baseline which led to easy baskets when his teammates found him.

Box Score (starters in italics)
Madison Memorial- Blue 27 Creamer 20 Burnette 11 Jamar Morris 3 Brendan Ortiz 3 Eric Fruhling 2 Kluender 0 Jordan Fredrick 0 Brian Nkemnji 0 Miles Chamberlain 0
Verona- Ropel 20 Karls 16 Peterson 12 Kaden Nauman 8 Danny Burns 2 Klayton Brandt 2 Adam Wadzinski 0 Nvida Malafa 0 Nate Ray 0

Well Memorial got the win no matter how ugly it was and despite what everyone says that they've lost their luster, including me earlier in this post, they will probably find their way by tournament time. They will probably finish the season with about five losses due to the fact that the Big Eight is that tough and that they are playing in a very tough tournament in Detroit over Christmas break.