Waunakee over Madison Edgewood

On Thursday night took in a matchup of two of the top teams in division two. Waunakee the current #1 team in D2 and Edgewood who has been in the top 15 for most of the year and have had an up and down season. Waunakee had already defeated Monroe earlier in the year who is the top contender in their regional and this was their chance to get a big win over the number two contender in the regional. Waunakee came away with a pretty impressive 61-48 win in this game, without one of their best players and starting point guard 6'2 senior Jared Staege. For whatever reason he wasn't suited up for the game but, Waunakee didn't miss a beat, with the exception of a couple early turnovers against Edgewood's full court press.



Waunakee was their normal selves to start the game. Very patient on the offensive end and looking to get the ball to the inside, playing great defense, and rebounding extremely well. Early on it was 6'0 senior Zak Hougland that looked to take the ball to the hoop and score and then it went to their regular scorer 6'2 senior Beau Murray who was hot as ever from mid range from the right side of the court. I'm not sure if it's the offense Waunakee runs, the fact that Murray is right handed and drives right more, or simply that he's more comfortable from the right side but, Murray takes the fast majority of his shots from the right side and normally from about 15 foot and in. I've never seen a kid love to settle for the 15 footer from the baseline like Murray does and hits the shot more times then not. Edgewood's outside shots weren't falling early and normally the can get the second and third shot attempts because they rebound so well but, against Waunakee that wasn't happening. The biggest reason for that was 6'5 senior Austin Maly who dominated the boards on both ends from the tip. This was the most impressive overall game I have seen Maly play and the only thing that stopped him was a small cut or scratch on his leg, that required some care. Edgewood was looking very flat and appeared to be in some danger of getting blown out when they got a huge lift off their bench from 6'2 sophomore Matt Ripple who came in and twice had back door cuts that led to easy layups for himself. After the first quarter Waunakee was up 20-9 and at the half they were up 38-24.



In the second half Edgewood's star 6'5 junior Austin Arians finally got going. In the first half Waunakee did a good job of finding Arians but, in the second half he found some openings and started knocking down some shots. Arians is tall enough that if he does get the ball he can shoot over most of the defenders that guard him and when he's in the zone nearly impossible to stop. For Waunakee Murray continue to stay hot and Maly continued to control the glass. Edgewood once again got a big lift from Ripple who hit a three early in the fourth to give the Crusaders some life but, in the end Waunakee was just too much as a team. Final score 61-48, forgot to write down what the score was after the third.

Top Players
Austin Arians 6'5 junior Edgewood- Really carried Edgewood tonight as his teammates just couldn't get the shots to fall. Second half he just didn't miss.
Matt Ripple 6'2 sophomore Edgewood- Was big off the bench. Only made three baskets but, everyone was big and saw some big minutes late in the game.
Beau Murray 6'2 senior Waunakee- Was his usual solid self. Not sure if he missed in the second half also did a nice job of helping bring the ball up the court at times.
Austin Maly 6'5 senior Waunakee- Absolute beast on the inside and really controlled things on both ends.
Andrew Dorscheid 5'10 senior Waunakee- Really stepped up big starting for Staege. Was really fearless driving to the lane and scoring. Only had a couple of turnovers early on but, was solid overall with the ball.

Box Score
Edgewood- Arians 21 Ripple 7 Brock Pavlik 5 Bruin Armwald 4 Jack Zwettler 3 Spencer Brink 2 Hans Meixelsperger 2 Austin Papenthien 2 Chris Wells 2 Dan Drabik 0 Jay Kinzel 0
Waunakee- Murray 21 A Maly 11 Dorscheid 7 Hougland 7 Jacob Soper 7 Ben Cable 5 Will Decorah 3 Ross Maly 0 Joe Tagarelli 0 Justin Block 0

Waunakee appears to be as solid as ever and appear poised to make a deep playoff run and should make it to state they only real contender that I haven't seen is Lakeside Lutheran and I just don't think they've seen a team like Waunakee playing in the Capitol Conference. Edgewood on the other side has the chance to go as far as Waunakee before they'll bow out. Edgewood does have Monroe which should be a very very good game just like their two previous meetings with the winner more then likely getting their second shot at Waunakee but, I just don't see either team beating them.