Madison East Dominates Early and Clinges to Lead Late

In a game where Madison East completely dominated throughout the first three quarters, numerous turnovers and a crucial technical foul made this game very close in the end. Just like the last East game that I saw big 6'4 senior Marquis Mason was the difference without scoring a ton of points. Whenever Verona would take the ball to the hoop they appeared to be very tentative and missed a ton of bunny shots early on in the game and East control the boards which didn't allow Verona any second chance buckets.

Throughout the entire first quarter Verona was missing the easy shots and seemed to be scarred of something that was never really there as Mason picked up an early foul and seemed to be alittle tentative challenging shots. Despite not being able to make anything on the inside Verona was able to stay in the game by knocking down the three point shot. Midway through the second quarter though the three stopped falling and East took over. Mason was dominating the defensive glass and was able to find room on the inside of the offensive end and score. Meanwhile junior guard 6'0 Nimrod Hillard was able to do whatever he wanted on the outside whether that was penetrating to the rim or knocking down the outside shot.

Second half started much the same as the first half as Verona couldn't buy a basket and Mason was controlling the boards and out letting to teammates which led to some wide open lay ups for Hillard. The game finally started to get closer when Verona's 6'4 seniors Adam Wadzinski and Sam Karls finally got involved in the game. Karls scored all 15 of his points in the second half mostly from the foul line. Verona turned up the pressure in the fourth quarter which led to numerous turnovers for East and Verona was able to make the game respectable. With under four minutes in the game Hillard found Mason on a back door ally oop dunk that appeared to seal the game but, there was one finally momentum swing left in the game. On a play that seemed to officially seal the game Mason threw down a monster dunk over Wadzinski which led to some hanging on the rim by Mason and some chest pounding, which led to the East fans coming out of the stands and onto the court. (Link to the two dunks can be found here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YR0YpWh5m68) These things led to two technical fouls being call on East and four free throws for Verona. Karls connected on all four free throws and brought Verona within four but, they never could get the game any closer as East got the 52-45 win.

Top Players
Nimrod Hillard 6'0 junior Madison East- Has been very impressive both games I have seen him. Handles the ball very well and can get to the rim at will or knock down the outside shot. Never saw the bench and didn't lose a step.
Marquis Mason 6'4 senior Madison East- As I've stated before is a game changer and doesn't have to score. Had a double double and added a hand full of blocks and a pair of monster dunks.
Adam Wadzinski 6'4 senior Verona- Kept his team in the game battling on the glass and hitting some very tough shots. May not always score but, is always a factor in the game.
Sam Karls 6'4 senior Verona- Battled with Mason all game long and really showed up at the end with 15 second half points. Very clutch from the free throw line.

Box Score (starters in italics)
Verona- Karls 15 Wadzinski 14 Kaden Nauman 6 Danny Burns 4 Matt Ropel 3 Taylor Peterson 3 Klayton Brandt 0 Nate Ray 0
Madison East- Hillard 19 Mason 17 Drew McAdams 5 Jeff Hull 4 Arthur Adams 4 DeAndre Galligan 2 Marcel Terry 1 Rudy Bentley 0

Saturday Madison East will be taking on Madison Memorial in what could possibly be the game of the year in Wisconsin as East is currently ranked #1 in the state while Memorial is #3. Tickets have gone on sale ahead of time so hopefully we can make it to this game.