Sun Prairie defeats Waunakee

In another upset by seeding only, Sun Prairie defeated Waunakee 62-59. Yes Waunakee won the Badger North conference and Sun Prairie took sixth in the Big Eight conference but, have to remember that the Big Eight is the toughest conference in the state. This was really shown in the game as Sun Prairie was clearly the more athletic team and had more talent. Waunakee played extremely hard and really dominated the boards but, just couldn't match Sun Prairie's athleticism.

Sun Prairie flexed their athleticism and muscle early in the game as 6'4 junior big man Chris Hawkins threw down and alley oop dunk and then had a break away dunk, Hawkins completed the trifecta throwing down a third dunk on another alley oop. Waunakee countered Hawkins with strong hustle play from their senior big man 6'3 Cole Cefalu who had a pair of second chance buckets and hit a three point shot. Early on Waunakee absolutely dominated the offensive glass but, when they didn't get the offensive rebound Sun Prairie was able to capitalize on the run out which led to some open looks for Sun Prairie's sharpshooters 6'2 senior Michael Boos and 6'3 junior Jordan Noskowiak who were able to knocked down the outside shots. Waunakee continued to get most of their scoring off of offensive rebounds and then Sun Prairie went to their bench and 5'11 junior Jaron Schaffner who hit a pair of three pointers in the second quarter. At half the score was in Sun Prairie's favor 29-23.

In the second half Waunakee pretty much gave up on their offense and went to an NBA style game just letting their two junior guards 6'2 Jared Staege and 6'3 Beau Murray take the ball to the hoop. When they didn't make the basket or not fouled it seemed there was someone there to clean up the mess, typically Cefalu who had a huge game just collecting second chance buckets. Waunakee pressed Sun Prairie throughout the entire game which led to numerous easy buckets for Sun Prairie which allowed Hawkins scoring total to just keep increasing all night long. In the end Waunakee just could never tie the game up and lost 62-59 with Sun Prairie leading the entire game.

Top Players
Cole Cefalu 6'3 senior Waunakee- Had a huge game dominating the offensive glass and getting second and third baskets.
Beau Murray 6'3 junior Waunakee- Did a nice job of getting to the hoop and scoring or getting fouled.
Jared Staege 6'2 junior Waunakee- Broke the Sun Prairie pressure defense with ease but, just couldn't get his shot to fall. Did hit a big three that got Waunakee within three.
Chris Hawkins 6'4 junior Sun Prairie- Just a beast in the post. Couldn't be stopped on the offensive end and had three nice dunks and able to hit a pair of nice jumpers.
Michael Boos 6'2 senior Sun Prairie- Had a fairly good first half shooting the ball and in the end was the guy that sealed the game hitting the free throws.
Jaron Schaffner 5'11 junior Sun Prairie- Did a nice job of pressing Waunakee when they were bringing the ball up the court. Hitting three bit three point shots in the game.

Box Score
Waunakee- Cefalu 19 Murray 18 Staege 11 Austin Maly 6 Chris Braatz 6 Jacob Soper 2 Kyle Newhouse 0 Nick Soper 0 Austin Prusha 0
Sun Prairie- Chris Hawkins 21 Boos 14 Schaffner 10 Nick Fuller 9 Noskowiak 6 William Theil 0 Daniel Mifflin 0

Waunakee may of lost this game but, they had a great season and should be poised for another great season returning three starters next year and returning their two top players in Staege and Murray. Sun Prairie moves on to make it an all Big Eight sectional with Madison Memorial, Madison East, and Middleton. The Big Eight now has six teams left including Beloit and Verona who are in the other sectional. Should be a very interesting match up between Sun Prairie and Madison Memorial as they split the regular season but, I think Memorial is just playing too good right now and should take down Sun Prairie and then defeat East to get to state.