Madison Memorial outheights Madison East

I know outheights really isn't a word but, it was the best way to describe how Memorial was able to defeat East. Coming in a knew that East had a short team but, when they came out for warm ups I realized how short they actually are. On their active roster East's tallest players were 6'3 and a three 6'1 players and two of those 6'1 players didn't see the court. At all times East almost always had three 5'9 players on the court and typically their second tallest player was senior Nimrod Hilliard who is listed at a very generous 6'0 and plays point guard and rarely goes inside unless he is driving. Memorial starts four players that are 6'4 or taller and had a 6'4 and 6'6 player off the bench.

From the beginning Memorials height advantage was evident as they looked to get the ball to the inside. Memorial seemed to missed alot of easy shots early on but, it didn't matter and it seemed they were going to score every time they got the ball. The biggest benefactor of this was 6'5 senior Miles Chamberlain, who was sporting the protective goggles after being out with an eye injury the past few weeks. Chamberlain was able to post up much smaller defenders and score at will. The other player that really benefited from his height advantage was 6'5 junior Junior Lomomba who had things going from the get go and kept it going throughout the entire game. Madison East was able to keep the game close by giving a 100% effort on both ends of the court and knocking down some three point shots head lined by Hillard and 5'9 junior Rudy Bentley. After one quarter Memorial was up 23-17. Second quarter Hillard started to get things going driving to the hoop. Every time Hillard drove it seemed that he was able to score or get fouled and go to the line. Hillard was the only one keeping East in the game and on the other side Memorial was able to expand their lead by hitting some threes. Lomomba and 6'5 senior Tre Burnette which each able to hit at least one three point shot in the second. At halftime Memorial was able to extend their lead to 47-32.

In the second half things really started to cool off as East scored only nine points in the third quarter while Memorial had 14 going into a bit of cruise control in this one. I believe Hillard took maybe one shot in the third quarter and East went ice cold from the outside. Memorial was having fun looking to throw some ally oops to each other and looking to make the spectacular play. After three Memorial was up 61-41. Memorial seemed to lax a bit in the fourth quarter and East put the pressure on forcing turnovers and cut the lead to 13 in the fourth before Lomomba and company finally put the peddle down and clear the bench as they got the 79-61 lead. Memorial probably doubled if not tripled East on the glass.

Top Players
Junior Lomomba 6'5 junior Memorial- Has played great this year but, probably had his best game of the year as he was hitting from the outside, scoring on the offensive glass, scoring driving to the hoop, and throw in a couple dunks.
Miles Chamberlain 6'5 senior Memorial- Nice to see him back after being out so long with injury. Really looks much more assertive on the offensive end. Seems to be alittle bit quicker and did a really nice job posting up smaller defenders.
Tre Burnette 6'5 senior Memorial- Finally appears to have his shot back from a year ago. His was a huge clutch shooter a year ago and is showing that again this year. Hit a pair of nice threes in this game and his free throw shooting actually resembled the Burnette of a year ago.
Nimrod Hillard 6'0 senior East- Always a fun guy to watch play. Plays with an extremely high energy level and don't think their is a defender out there that can consistently stay in front of him. Gets to the hoop at will where he can finish over and around bigger defenders.
Stephen Williams Jr 6'1 junior East- Did a nice job battling against players that were at least three inches taller them him but, was able to get most of his points on the offensive glass scoring against the bigger defenders.

Box Score
Memorial 79- Lomomba 32 Burnertte 19 Chamberlain 15 Weah 5 Brendan Ortiz 3 Ngijol Songolo 2 Thomas Parkman 2 Trevell Scurlock 1 Adam Cooley 0 Cameron Nankivil 0
East 61- Hillard 26 Williams Jr 9 Jermel McLin 8 Bentley 7 Emani Brathwaite 3 Darius Kelly 3 Alex Redd 3 Tyrone Galvin 2 Speedy Amara 0 Austin Knorr 0

Memorial appears to be hitting their stride now and are only missing one starter with the return of Chamberlain. East is always going to struggle in games where their threes aren't falling and they can't push the tempo.