Madison Memorial clinches 11th title

Thursday night was a huge game between the top two teams in the Big Eight conference, a chance for Memorial to clinch their eleventh straight conference title outright after sharing it a year ago with the team they were playing, and Memorial's Principal Bruce Dahmen passed away Tuesday. Dahmen has always been a fixture at Memorial games since I have been going and always struck me as someone that had a good relationship with the students and cared about them. After reading the story about Dahmen in the paper it was fairly evident that this was probably the truth. Memorial's opponent was Sun Prairie has been playing some great ball as of late and their star 6'3 junior Nick Niskowiak is playing like he is the best player in the conference which I truly believe he is.

Memorial jumped out early like usual but, after that it got ugly for both teams. No one could seem to find the range from the outside and shots were clanked all night long. There were numerous shots that didn't even catch the rim. Wasn't a lot to say about this game really with all the missed shots. One thing Sun Prairie did a nice job of was limited the second chances by Memorial big man 6'7 senior Darral Willis. Typically Willis feast on offensive rebounds but, tonight that was really limited and Willis just didn't get a lot of touches in the paint. Willis lack of scoring can be attributed to Sun Prairie really packing in their zone defense and the play of Sun Prairie big man 6'5 senior Shane Waldon. Waldon didn't get a ton of rebounds but, he kept Willis from getting the rebounds as well. For whatever reason Memorial senior 6'4 Tyler Lindquist didn't start but, when he did come in made his impact felt as he was able to carry Memorial in the first half scoring finding openings in the Prairie zone and scoring with his back to the basket.

Sun Prairie was able to actually grab a lead in the second half but, just couldn't close the game out as their senior leader 5'11 Reggie Roemer came up bit with three big baskets late. The biggest thing that help Sun Prairie back was the fact that Noskowiak took a second shot to the head with five minutes left in the game and was unable to return to the game. Possible concussion? Not sure what it was exactly but, he didn't even come back to the bench and without his ball handling Sun Prairie couldn't get things going at all late. Memorial ended up winning 50-45.

Top Players
Shareef Smith 5'10 junior Memorial- Was really strong in the transition game and showed the ability to finish at the rim in a variety of ways.

Tyler Lindquist 6'4 senior Memorial- Showed a really strong game with his back to the basket and was always able to find the opening in the zone defense.

JT Ruffin 6'5 junior Sun Prairie- With Waldon occuping Willis, Ruffin really had his way on the inside. Rebounded extremely well in the game and was able to score in the paint at will.

Box Score 
Memorial- Lindquist 14 Smith 11 Roemer 8 Willis 7 Daurice Fountain 6 Henry Houden 4 Bryce Danielson 0 Brett Tauber 0
SP- Ruffin 14 Noskowiak 10 Waldon 8 Michael Marchese 6 Malik Robinson 4 Nate Verstegen 2 Sam Kerr 1 Holden Buie 0

I think Sun Prairie's success will really hinge on the health of Noskowiak. Honestly if Noskowiak is healthy they could nearly beat anyone in their sectional and make a run at state. On the otherside Memorial is the odds on favorite to win the sectional and get to state. This sectional is pretty much their conference plus a couple teams so, whoever wins conference is automatically the favorite to make state. This team is by no means invisible and could easily be beaten but, they are the favorite.