Madison Memorial

On Thursday was down at Madison Memorial to take on Beloit. Both teams were undefeated in conference, Beloit undefeated over all, while Memorial was coming off their first defeat of the season getting crushed by Milwaukee King. When teams came out for warmups first thing I immediately noticed was that Memorial only had nine players suited up for the game and had seven players in street cloths. Looking at their numbers makes Memorial's start to the season all the more impressive, in that they are missing two starters and are playing very short handed.

Every single Memorial game they opponent comes out firing and pumped up to beat Memorial and give them their best shot. Beloit was no different as they came out with a high energy level playing head to head with Memorial. Memorial came out of the gate not shooting well but, as always they were able to turn Beloit over which led to easy transition baskets for Memorial. Beloit was able to keep the game close with tremendous three point shooting as it seemed that everyone on the team hit at least one three point shot in the first half. At the end of one Memorial was up 21-17. Memorial really struggle from the outside in this game and I believe that they ended up hitting only three three point shots. With the outside shot not falling the really looked to drive the ball to the hoop. 6'5 junior star Junior Lomomba was able to drive baseline and score, 6'5 senior Tre Burnette was also able to get to the hoop, along with 6'1 sophomore Brendan Ortiz who was able to drive and hit floaters in the lane. Being carried by their big three Memorial clung to a 34-29 lead as Beloit was able to continue knocking down the threes.

In the third quarter really got things going as everyone outside of Lomomba continued to struggle but, they were able to dominate the offensive glass and get second and third chances. Lomomba ended up with 20 points at the end of three quarters including a free nice base line drive and dunk on a 6'7 kid from Beloit, then in the fourth quarter didn't even look to shoot as the game was in hand. The player that really benefited from the third quarter scoring was 6'4 junior Ngijol Songolo who just made layups all quarter long as the big three were able to penetrate and find Songolo open in the paint. At the end of the third quarter Memorial was up 57-39. Fourth quarter there really wasn't much to talk about as Memorial outscored Beloit eight to five, with both coaches clearing the bench and giving everyone time in the game. I apologize to Beloit for not mentioning them much but, there really wasn't much for stand outs and no one really stood out to me in the game. Madison Memorial got the big 65-44 win.

Top Players
Junior Lomomba 6'5 junior Madison Memorial- Had a great great game and just couldn't miss. Was able to get to the hoop at will and seemed much quicker then normal in this game and had the nice dunk. Really is the leader of this team.
Tre Burnette 6'5 senior Madison Memorial- Showed some nice ball handling skills in this game, battled on the glass, and finally hit a three looking more and more like the sharp shooter of a year ago.
Brendan Ortiz 6'1 sophomore Madison Memorial- Another leader for this team that can use his quickness and handling skills to get in the lane and cause problems. Really looking forward to the matchup with Nimrod Hillard.
Mike Weston 6'3 senior Beloit- Honestly don't remember much about him but, he was the teams leading scored with 13 points.
Dennis Crosby 5'11 senior Beloit- Was a guy that hit a couple nice outside shots and wasn't afraid to drive against the bigger Memorial defenders.

Box Score
Madison Memorial 65- Lomomba 20 Ortiz 11 Burnette 11 Songolo 11 Jester Weah 5 Thomas Parkman 5 Tyler Lindquist 2 Zach Mitchell 0 Joe Ferguson 0
Beloit 44- Weston 13 Cameron Roegner 8 Crosby 7 Trevea Ross 7 Jon Winston 3 Damont Green 3 Ahmad Shamsid-Dean 2 Dalton Davies 2 Curtis Payton 0 Matt Zibert 0 Tevin Gamble 0 Arman Cabrera 0 Isaih Brandy 0

With this win Madison Memorial jumps into sole possession of the conference lead, tied with Sun Prairie losing Madison Memorial gets a big lead as SP is their biggest competition in conference and they now have lost two games.