Sun Prairie over Madison Memorial

Went to Sun Prairie tonight to take in the battle between the Cardinals and the Madison Memorial Spartans. In the past five to 10 years they have really had some epic battles and every game always seems to come down to the wire. This game had some moments of excitement but, overall wasn't a great game and a bit of a defensive struggle. Memorial struggled all night shooting and Sun Prairie started off hot but, cooled off in the second half and actually stopped shooting the threes in the second. Both teams struggled shooting but, both teams did a pretty good job offensive rebounding which led to longer possessions and a lower scoring game.

Sun Prairie jumped all over Memorial early led by three threes from 6'5 senior Rod Johnson who scored 11 points in the first five minutes but, then only scored one point the rest of the game. Along with Johnson the rest of the Sun Prairie lineup was hitting as they got threes from 6'2 senior DJ Jones, 6'2 junior Ben Hauser, and 6'3 junior Bryce Moore. The Sun Prairie hot shooting combined with the extremely poor shooting of Memorial star 6'8 junior Chris Knight led to a 20-8 score at one point in the first half. Knight had an extremely poor shooting night and I would guess he was maybe 1-12 shooting in the first half. Knight has all the moves to get his shot any time but, he's fading away and drifting at times. I would like to see him go straight to the hoop. Really the only highlights of the first half were a pair of dunks, one by 6'5 junior Jake Ferguson driving baseline for a dunk, which was Memorial's first basket after three straight Knight misses, and then a steal and break away dunk by Knight. Despite the start Memorial was able to claw back into the game behind some nice interior play 6'6 junior Matt Caropreso scoring on the inside with some nice post moves including a nice little hook shot. The first half Sun Prairie absolutely dominated the offensive glass as well.

In the second half Knight came out much stronger looking to get the ball deeper in the post and making some easy buckets and drawing fouls. In the second half though Sun Prairie was able to hold on behind the play of their point guard 6'1 senior Sam Kerr. Kerr had a quiet half in the first half but, he came up big controlling the tempo of the game and getting in the lane and hitting some big mid range jumpers as well as getting to the hoop and scoring or drawing contact against the bigger Memorial defenders. In the end Memorial just didn't have anyone to create for themselves on the inside and couldn't get the ball to the post on a consistent basis.

Top Players 
Rod Johnson 6'5 senior Sun Prairie- That first five minutes of the game sealed the deal for Johnson. He was making shots with very little room and hit a couple fadeaways with a little Kobe game. In the second half Memorial played very physical with him which took him off his game.

Sam Kerr 6'1 senior Sun Prairie- Didn't have a great game but, did the job of the point guard controlling the game late and dominating the ball late and scoring. I really love Kerr's game as a point guard. He can just run the offensive or he can score when needed and seems like he lets the game come to him and doesn't force things early.

Chris Knight 6'8 junior Madison Memorial- Had a very rough game but, did get things going a bit in the second half. I do like his back to the basket game but, would like to see more towards the rim.

Matt Caropreso 6'6 junior Madison Memorial- Had some very nice post up moves in the game and when Ferguson was saddled with foul trouble came up big rebounding.

Box Score
Sun Prairie 49- Johnson 12 Kerr 12 Hauser 6 Jones 5 Moore 5 Nate Verstegen 4 Deshawn Black 4 Marlon Ruffin 2 Sean Suchomel 0
Madison Memorial 43- Knight 12 Logan Knecht 9 Billy Wilson 8 Caropreso 7 Ferguson 5 Terrel Goodwan 2 Jason Weah 0 Ian Brown 0

After this game it really looks like Sun Prairie and Middleton are the two favorites for conference, as Middleton defeated Madison East tonight as well. The biggest question for Sun Prairie is who will be the third scorer behind Kerr and Johnson. Memorial needs to get more consistent production from their guards at least in driving to the hoop. Right now Memorial's offensive is pass it around the perimeter trying to feed the post if that fails just jack up a three. With that said the Big Eight conference seems that it will be very interesting with both Memorial and East losing tonight.