Milwaukee King over Madison East

Mark Miller already beat me to a write up of this game but, I'll give it a shot from my perspective. This game gave me a chance to watch a City power play in Milwaukee King who usually doesn't venture very close to me and when they play in Madison I try to get to the game. King is a known power throughout the state and have been nearly a given to be at state for nearly the past 10 years. You come in to a game with King expecting an uptempo game and a team that will play extremely hard for 32 minutes. Madison East has had some talent in the past but, hasn't always been able to put it together and this year seems to be a turn around year for East.

Both teams brought about what I expected. King had 10 guys dressed and played all ten pretty evenly and provided an intense pressure throughout. One thing that did surprise was the amount of zone that King played because I didn't remember them playing a lot of zone in past years. King played a 1-3-1 that almost sagged into a 1-2-2? At times they were just trapping the ball and was tough to tell what they were playing exactly. East has some very good players and have more size then in the past, which has always hurt them in the past, but just didn't have enough players in the end as they seemed to wear down late.

Early on the game was fairly closely contended with both teams really trading baskets and the change really seemed to occur when King senior 6'5 Diamantae Freeman checked in the game. Freeman really helped King control the glass and showed some very nice moves in the paint and finished the first half with 10 points, For whatever reason Freeman didn't start but, he was probably the key reason that King won the game. Overall I was really impressed with how well King rebounded overall. Their entire team crashed the glass and got boards and really like how Freeman or fellow senior 6'1 Marquis Turner would tip the ball out to their teammates. Was really a team effort. Some rough shooting though led to King not being able to put East away and letting them hang around. East was led by 6'2 senior De'Shawn Burks who was able to find the middle of that King zone and score in the paint and finished in the variety of ways. Burks got the points but, it was really 6'3 junior Deang Deang that did most of the work handling the ball against the King pressure and finding Burks open on the inside. Halftime King was up 28-19.

Third quarter things really changed and East had a huge 13-4 third quarter lead and was able to tie the game at 32. Deang was able to get some buckets of his own driving to the hoop and King just seemed totally out of sink. After going back and forth early in the fourth King finally really turned up the pressure and forced East into some turnovers and the game swung completely King's way when 6'2 sophomore Jordan Poole found Freeman on a ally oop dunk which was followed by another turnover and a break away layup for Poole that put King up 44-37. In the end the King depth just wore East down, primarily Deang who was harassed all night by multiple defenders. King 6'2 senior Joe Binyoti knocked down the free throws late to seal the game 54-44.

Top Players
Diamantae Freeman 6'5 senior King- I said earlier he was the reason they won. Really showed a nice post game with his back to the basket and really controlled the glass on both ends of the court.

Jordan Poole 6'2 sophomore King- Didn't have a great game and couldn't get his shot going but, really played with a lot of composure. Just a smooth player and seems to be a leader on the team even though he's and underclassman.

Marquis Turner 6'1 senior King- Just seemed like a really smart ball player. Battled on the glass and was able to get his shot off any time he wanted even though it really wasn't falling either.

De'Shawn Burks 6'2 senior East- Did a very nice job scoring on the inside of the King zone. Can really finish in a variety of ways around the rim.

Deang Deang 6'3 junior East- Just a very very solid point guard. Does a great job of controlling the East offense and has the ability to get to the rim using his length. Can also shoot the three point shot.

Box Score 
King 54- Freeman 12 Poole 10 Turner 9 Binyoti 8 Robert Held 4 Sam Morrow 4 Ellis 4 Tyrail Trussel 2 Deandre Hill-Stanton 1 Royce Buckner 0
East 44- Burks 15 Deang 13 Kenny Jones 8 Tre'vone Irby 6 D'Angelo Millon 2 Keshawn Justice 0 Chris Warren 0 Austin Obodo 0 Cameron Cratic 0

Milwaukee King just seemed like a fun team to play for. They play an uptempo game and it doesn't matter if you start or not your still going to play and have the chance to score. No doubt King will once again be a state contender. Madison East is a much improved team and will more then likely finish in the top four in the conference and may very well challenge Sun Prairie this year when they play.