Memorial survives a scare

Within the same week that I talked about Madison Memorial appearing poised to win their 12th straight conference title they nearly lost one to Sun Prairie who has been heading in the opposite direction. Sun Prairie looked like the better team throughout the game and if it wasn't for some late game heroics and a bit of a Cardinal collapse Memorial would of lost this one.

Sun Prairie came out in a 2-3 zone defense which stymied Memorial a bit early on. On the offensive end I really liked that what Memorial did with their leading scorer 5'10 senior Shareef Smith. Smith would bring the ball up the court and then once he passed the ball off he go to the base line and run the base line behind the zone defense. Memorial really looked for Smith and even though he wasn't scoring much he would fine team mates cutting to the hoop in his three seniors 6'0 Koko Songolo, 6'3 Henry Houden, and 6'5 Brett Tauber. On the other end Memorial was running a man to man defense but, they were switching on everything so it really was more of a zone defense. This defense really opened up a lot of threes for Sun Prairie as 6'1 senior Malik Robinson hit a three right off the bat but, things when south until 6'4 junior Rod Johnson came into the came. Johnson hit three threes fresh off the bench and 6'5 senior JT Ruffin chipped in a three which forced Memorial to switch into a more traditional man to man defense. Sun Prairie had a three point lead at the half.

In the second half Sun Prairie continued to maintain their lead but, Memorial continued to hang around by pounding the offensive glass as always and force feeding the ball into their big man Brett Tauber. Tauber score three straight buckets in the second half. For Sun Prairie Johnson continued his hot shooting from the outside and Ruffin used his athleticism to score around the Memorial big man. In the fourth quarter Houden started to get going offensively driving the ball to the hoop and getting some second chance buckets while Songolo was dropping the threes from the outside. Sun Prairie seemed to put things out of reach after back to back threes from the corner from Johnson and Ruffin and I believe with about three minutes left in the game were up by nine. A three by Songolo and then an and one basket by Houden combined with a Malik Robinson missed free throw set the stage for the ending. Songolo drove to the hoop shot the runner which came off the rim and Houden tipped the ball back in the hoop with three seconds left and Sun Prairies half court heave banked of the backboard and off the rim to give Memorial the one point win 53-52.

Top Players 
Henry Houden 6'3 senior Madison Memorial- Had the game winning basket but, played a great all around game throughout. Was able to drive the ball to the rim, hit the mid range shot, knocked down a couple threes and was all over the glass all night. He's their glue guy and he can really score at times.

Koko Songolo 6'0 senior Madison Memorial- Was the guy consistently hitting from the outside. Had a hot streak midway through the second half where he just couldn't miss. Missed a lot of driving runners in the lane but, drew the defenders and allowed team mates to get the rebounds.

Brett Tauber 6'5 senior Madison Memorail- Had the one very strong run there but, was really a force in the paint at times both scoring and rebounding. Also does a nice job of getting the ball in the high post and finding the open team mate.

Rod Johnson 6'4 junior Sun Prairie- Huge game with 19 points off the bench. When he's given the open spot up three your very surprised when he misses. Also has the ability to put the ball on the floor and score.

JT Ruffin 6'5 senior Sun Prairie- Stepped out and hit the three point shot, battled for rebounds, and used his quickness and finesse to score on the inside.

Box Score
MM- Houden 19 Songolo 17 Tauber 9 Smith 6 Jason Weah 2 Jake Ferguson 0 Billy Wilson 0
SP- Johnson 19 Ruffin 15 Sam Kerr 9 Robinson 6 Ben Hauser 3 Deshawn Black 0 Nate Verstegen 0

I will remain with my statement that Memorial is a team to beat in the Big Eight. Memorial is just finding a way to win even when they don't play great now just like the old Memorial teams and they get a ton of rebounds and their playing some pretty god defense right now and it really was Sun Prairie's three point shooting that put this game where it was. For Sun Prairie they seem to be finding themselves since the lose of Noskowiak. Things will still be tough when their struggling to find someone to put the team on their back and will them to a win.