Monroe over Monona Grove

In a early season matchup between two Badger South powers Monroe took on Monona Grove. The game basically played out the way that I thought in that the game would be close for the first half and then in the second half Monroe would pull away and cruise to victory.

Early on the game started out very sloppy as both teams missed a ton of shots, which can be attributed to this being an early season game, only Monroe's second game and Monona Grove's first. Monroe really looked to get the ball in the post and missed a bunch of bunnies early on in the game but, they continued to get second and third chances which kept them in the game. On the other side MG really looked to get out and push the tempo but, this resulted in numerous turnovers and lots of one and done as it seemed that Monroe took twice as many shots as Monona Grove and had the ball twice as long. First quarter ended 9-8. Second quarter Monroe was finally able to get some of their patented three point shooting going as 6'0 senior Bryan Tordoff hit a pair of threes. MG went to the 2-3 zone defense which really caused Monroe problems and they just couldn't seem to get open looks that they liked. MG continued the one and done shooting and looked to rely on their state 6'0 senior Zach Zweifel. At halftime score was 19-17 Monroe up.

In the second half MG continued to play the zone defense and Monroe was finally get some open looks as 6'2 senior Michael Barrett find the opening at the free throw line and was able to knock down the fade away 15 foot shot all night long. MG kept looking to Zweifel to score and he started to force some things and the shots weren't falling. End of three quarters Monroe was up 32-26. Fourth quarter Monroe seemed to have no interest in scoring and preferred to just pass the ball around the perimeter. Monroe's patients or lack of interest to score, resulted in Monona Grove having to come out and foul and just about every point that was scored in the fourth by Monroe was a free throw usually from Tordoff or Barrett. For MG Zweifel continued to force things and the shots really weren't falling until he made a couple garbage baskets right at the end. In the end Monroe won 51-41.

Top Players
Michael Barrett 6'2 senior Monroe- MVP of the game was very impressive hitting the fadeaways in the middle of Monona Grove's zone defense. Did a nice job of rebounding as well. Money from the free throw line.
Bryan Tordoff 6'0 senior Monroe- Struggled a bit more then he has in the past with his shooting but, still got his numbers. Hit some big threes, showed some nice moves in the post, and hit the free throws when they mattered most. Biggest asset to the game was his offensive rebounding.
Zach Zweifel 6'0 senior Monona Grove- Really carried the MG offense on his own but, just have enough help. Finished well in transition and was able to create shots for himself.

Box Score
Monroe- Barrett 24 Tordoff 16 Andrew Armstrong 4 Alex Barenklau 3 Tyler Barta 3 Damian Penniston 0 Michael Turek 0 Austin Burandt 0
Monona Grove- Zweifel 20 Drew Bauer 6 Matt Welsch 6 Max Gehrmann 4 Austin Klute 3 Ben Crawford 2 Kevin Korntvew 0 Graham Schroeder-Gasser 0 Zachary Dolan 0

Final thoughts are that both these teams will probably be towards the top of Badger South but, they need to find more scoring help for their stars. For Monroe Tordoff and Barrett take about every shot outside of the occasional wide open three. Armstrong looked to score in the post early on but, after missing some bunnies he shyd away from shooting. Monona Grove is in the same boat with Zweifel being the only go to player but, they have some guys that could provide some help. Bauer is a very good free throw shooter so if he could get more aggressive on the offensive his scoring will go up with the made free throws. Both Gehrmann and Welsch didn't seem shy about shooting and got some looks but, just couldn't get their shots to fall, if those two make some more baskets should help them greatly. Tomorrow have Marshfield and Baraboo and hopefully Madison Memorial and Sun Prairie Saturday.