Lodi, Madison Memorial, and Middleton get the Ws

This past week I took in three straight days and didn't have a chance to do any writing. Lodi came up with the huge upset of Lakeside Lutheran. Memorial seems to have rounded it to form defeating Madison East in a game where East controlled the entire game. Middleton faced their biggest challenge of the year taking down Arrowhead. 

Lodi 62 Lakeside Lutheran 54

I think Lakeside Lutheran played pretty poorly and the only guy that could get things going was 6'3 senior Mason DeNoyer who ended with 19 points. DeNoyer was able to hit jumpers all game long from deep two point range and out to three point range. 6'0 senior Austin DeNoyer struggled all game long forcing bad shots and just couldn't get things going at all. On the other side Lodi used a tremendous high low game with their two big men 6'6 senior Peyton Fulkerson and 6'5 senior Derek Paulson. Paulson gets most of the attention but, Fulkerson was just as impressive as each player took turns catching the ball in the high post and then feeding his team mate in the low post. Paulson had the one advantage with his ability to handle the ball and the ability to knock down the three. In the end it was Lakeside inability to knock down the outside shot that allowed Lodi to seal the game. 

Top Scorers

Lodi- Paulson 23 Fulkerson 16 Logan Walzer 10

LL- DeNoyer 19 A DeNoyer 12 Cameron Kuepers 10

Madison Memorial 63 Madison East 56

This was a very strange game because East totally controlled this game throughout until the final five minutes or so when Memorial finally took the lead. This game had by far the best atmosphere I have seen all year long. The energy level was there and the crowd was as loud and intense as any gym has been this year. East came out applying the pressure and Memorial just wasn't ready for it as they turned the ball over again and again early on. In the half court offense East was moving the ball pretty well and when they were missing their shots Memorial was doing a poor job of boxing out and East was dominating the offensive glass. Thankfully for Madison Memorial 6'5 junior Jake Ferguson had another great night rebounding and scoring in the post. Personally I think Ferguson is their most valuable player and every once in awhile he has a great game that shows what he's capable of. In the second half Memorial was the one that dominated the offensive glass and East just couldn't put Memorial away. 6'4 senior Deang Deang did his best to carry his team an East had a lead late but, a double technical totally changed the game and momentum. 6'2 East senior Oliver Allison got tangled up with Ferguson and some pushing and shoving happened and Allison got nailed with two Ts and Memorial hit three of four free throws to put them within one then a basket on the next possession gave them the lead. Madison East came back to hit a huge three but, it was Ferguson who scored on the next possession and Memorial hung onto the lead hitting the free throws. 

Top Scorers

Memorial- Ferguson 19 Chris Knight 15 Logan Knecht 11

East- Dean 17 Allison 11 Kenny Jones 6 

Middleton 81 Arrowhead 78

This was probably Middleton's biggest test of the year as Arrowhead is battle tested and plays in a very tough conference. Middleton blitzed them early on but, Arrowhead slowly climbed back into this one until they were in striking distance late. Middleton was able to get out in transition on the Arrowhead turnover which gave some easy baskets to 6'4 junior Tyree Eady who got out in transition to score. Eady also did a nice job of moving without the ball and finding easy buckets around the rim. Another player that moved extremely well without the ball was 5'11 junior Storm Murphy who came off the screens and was ready to shoot immediately and Murphy is never shy about taking shots. For Arrowhead it was really all Trevell Cunningham a 5'11 junior thats lighting quick and no one on Middleton could stay in front of him. Cunningham was able to get to the basket at will where he would score or find open team mates for easy baskets. It was Cunningham late that hit a pair of huge threes and Middleton struggling that gave Arrowhead a chance. With seconds left Cunningham caught the inbounds pass and pumped fake, which cost him because the buzzer sounded, and Cunningham shot the ball just after the buzzer and of course the shot fell. Middleton escaped Arrowhead and Cunningham with a hard fought victory. 

Top Scorers

Midd- Murphy 27 Eady 23 CJ Germanich 12

Arrow- Cunningham 22 Brian Wilman 12 Alec Hamilton 11 

Was a pretty good three days of basketball. All three games were very good that were close throughout each game.