Madison Memorial over Madison East

Took in a very big game in the Big Eight as Memorial looked to climb back to the top after their loss to Middleton and East was looking to climb back in to some relevance after defeated Sun Prairie to open the season. As usual Madison East was undersized but, they do have some height in a pair of juniors 6'5 D'Angelo Millon and 6'4 Deron Cribbs. East really played tough even though they were much smaller then Memorial and led most of the game before they just seemed to wear out against the Memorial pressure. The East teams of recent have really reminded me of the Madison Edgewood teams, that maybe aren't the most talented team but, they are going to play the hardest and give 100% at all times. I really think highly of Edgewood's coach Zwittler and East's coach Matt Miota is starting to get into that class for me.

Early on East was knocking down their shots from the outside and they were running their offense very well. Memorial was able to stay in the game simply because they were taller and got second and third opportunities every time down the court.  6'7 senior Darral Willis had a field day early on scoring on the inside and hitting his free throws when he got fouled. East got the outside shooting from all their guards in 6'0 senior Dequan Seymore, 5'10 senior Martin Lackey, and 5'8 junior Austin Obodo. East led this game by five going into the fourth quarter but, Memorial got their uptempo gaming going with 5'10 junior Shareef Smith and 6'4 senior Tyler Lindquist and the two of them also hit their free throws late to put the game out of reach.

The future looks bright for East as they played only two seniors that played and I look for them to make some noise next year. It truly was a team effort for them as they had six players score between eight to 13 points. Obodo really was hot from down town early and his team mates looked to him. Both Seymore and Lackey are similar players. Both guys can knock down the three, take the ball to the rim hard where they can finish, and handle the ball really well. Millon really battled on the inside and did a nice jump of pulling Willis away from the rim shooting the 15 footers but, he seemed to fall in love with the jumper and would of like to see him attack the rim alittle more. Deang Deang is a very heady 6'2 sophomore who just seems like a smart player. Deang does a little bit of everything and is really the glue player that holds everything together. Runs the point, rebounds, passes, and scores when he's needed to. 6'3 junior De'Shawn Burks is regared as their top player and he had a pretty solid game. He seems to want to play on the perimeter but, I think he could really help his team out more by playing the post. Burks has a wide array of post moves and I think he could of gotten Willis in foul trouble with his head fakes down low. 5'10 junior Jordan Chester didn't even play in the game either as he was their top JV player a year ago and have seen in the box score that he has been their top scorer at times.

For Memorial they really looked into the post like the last game I saw them focusing on Willis and Lindquist. Also Smith really stepped up this game as it appears he has replaced 5'11 senior Reggie Roemer in the starting lineup. Smith had a quiet first half but, showed up in the second knocking down free throws and getting to the rim in transition. 6'3 junior Henry Houden also had a big second half scoring all 12 of his points after halftime and hitting some big late shots.

Top Players
Martin Lackey 5'10 senior East- Just a very strong lead guard, that used his strength to do what he wanted on the court. Knocked down some threes, got the ball to the rim, and doing a good job handling the Memorial pressure for 3/4 of the game.

De'Shawn Burks 6'3 junior East- Did a nice job battling the bigger defenders for Memorial and was able to score on the inside.

Darral Willis 6'7 senior Memorial- Had a dunk fest in the first half scoring in the paint. Really controlled the interior on both ends and had a ton of rebounds.

Tyler Lindquist 6'4 senior Memorial- Showed some nice post moves in the game and also was running the court well and getting some easy buckets.

Shareef Smith 5'10 junior Memorial- Seemed to be playing with  a lot more confidence this time around and looked to be a point guard rather then a scorer. Was great from the free throw line where he spent a lot of time and was able to score in transition and keep himself under control.

Box Score 
East 65- Lackey 13 Millon 12 Burks 12 Seymore 10 Deang 8 Obodo 8 Cribbs 2 Tre'vone Irby 0

Memorial 75- Smith 20 Lindquist 18 Willis 16 Houden 12 Brett Tauber 5 Roemer 4 Daurice Fountain 0 Bryce Danielson 0 Koko Songolo 0

Memorial looks like they are ready to win their 11th straight conference title and East will probably beat some teams in the top half of the conference and will finish somewhere in the middle.