Sun Prairie over Middleton

Well I'm sitting at home today watching college basketball instead of being down at the Eastbay Converse Classic due to this stupid white stuff that is coming down. Did get to watch the Wisconsin vs Marquette game though which was fun particularly for someone that has no real affiliation to one team or the other so I could just sit back and relax and watch some former high school stars go at it.

Friday night got a chance to check out Sun Prairie's Fieldhouse and was pretty impressed with the facility. The only bad thing was that I didn't realize that they actually got an entire brand new school and not just a new gym. After driving around Sun Prairie a bit I did manage to find the new school. The school and gym are state of the art facilities and from my seat in the bleachers I could get a peek into the weight room which looked very similar to my college weight room and very big.

Anyway on to the game, where there wasn't a whole lot to talk about. Sun Prairie had a huge advantage in every aspect of the game. They had more talent and more height all around but, they did allow Middleton to hang around longer then they should of. The game started off and Middleton didn't appear to be running much of an offense and had a hard time even getting a shot off as the repeatedly turned the ball over and allowed Sun Prairie to get in run outs and score. When the Sun Prairie wasn't getting the fast breaks they looked to their big man 6'5 senior Chris Hawkins who didn't score a lot but, was able to find teammates open on the outside, as they ran their offense from the inside out. Middleton did get alittle bit of their offense going looking into their big man 6'6 senior Ian Joyce, who showed a nice touch around the rim early on. After the first quarter SP had the 10 lead up 17-7. Middleton got things going a bit in the second quarter behind 6'2 senior Seth Coyne who had a pair of nice drives but, SP continued their hot shooting and when they got the ball whether on a rebound or turnover they pushed the ball immediately and were able to convert on easy buckets. Sun Prairie was up 36-21 at half and appeared ready to go into cruise control .

In the second half Coyne came out firing as he put Middleton on his back and really played with a high energy level to get Middleton back in the game. I don't know if it was the fact that Middleton had more energy due, to the fact that they 13 players in their regular rotation but, Middleton appeared to have more energy in the second half and were able to turn Sun Prairie over and hit a couple threes and some and ones to get back in the game and cut the lead to 47-37 at the end of three quarters. Fourth quarter Sun Prairie was able to space the floor and take over with their strong ball handling from 6'5 sophomore Nick Fuller and 6'0 senior Jaron Schaffner where able to penetrate and usually get fouled or find an open teammate. In the end both benches were cleared with about a minute left in the game and Sun Prairie won 66-52.

Top Players
Seth Coyne 6'2 senior Middleton- Middleton success will probably depend on Coyne's play. Plays with a high energy and is very strong driving with the ball to his right. Middleton was coming back tell he took a hit to the face which resulted in a bloody nose and his aggressiveness fell off a bit after that.
Ian Joyce 6'6 senior Middleton- Only real height they have and will have to play a ton of minutes for this team. Has a nice touch around the rim but, would like to seem him go towards the rim instead of fading away on everything.
Nick Fuller 6'5 sophomore Sun Prairie- Is in my mind without a doubt the top player in his class that I have seen. I had my doubts last year between him and Brendan Ortiz from Madison Memorial but, Fuller is my guy. Handles the ball very well particularly for someone his size. Can grab a defensive board and take it coast to coast and score. Shoots very well from anywhere on the court. Is probably this teams top player.
Jaron Schaffner 6'0 senior Sun Prairie- Had a great night using his ball handling skills and quickness to get the open shot. Hit his free throws and had a nice break away dunk that surprised me.
Chris Hawkins 6'5 senior Sun Prairie- Very strong in the post as always. Didn't have a stand out game scoring but, killed on the boards and showed he could finish at the rim with some finesse.

Box Score
Sun Prairie 66- Fuller 19 Schaffner 15 Hawkins 12 Paris Saffold 8 Jordan Noskowiak 5 Jacob Oakley 3 Daniel Mifflin 2 Ryan Yentz 2 Nick Behrens 0 Rapheal Ragland 0 Martin Cromwell 0 Andre Wallace 0 Bryce Opps 0
Middleton 52- Coyne 18 Joyce 10 Will O'Brien 8 Sonny Bavery 5 Connor Wipfli 4 Antoine Buchanon 3 Sam Everson 2 TJ Weber 2 Jake Raffel 0 James Gardner 0 Bryan Machmeier 0 Connor Stubbe 0 Robby Williams 0 Matt Meinholz 0 Eric Hagstrom 0 Nick Schmidt 0

Sun Prairie again shows me again and again that they are a top five team in the state. They need to find some bench help and tonight Saffold brought that but, they need it night in and night out. Their top four players are as good as any in the state and they should push Madison Memorial and the Milwaukee schools for that state appearance. Middleton on the other side will be an up and down year. They will beat the bottom dwellers but, will really struggle against the top teams. They really don't have a lot of help after Joyce and Coyne, they play a lot of guys but, their really isn't much of a difference between 3 through 13. Well hopefully this snow will let up sometime and can head to some games this coming week.