Regions

This Friday and Saturday took in a pair of Regional games. This is a great time of year and you can usually get a minimum of two very good games a week with some very good atmospheres.


Oregon 71 Monona Grove 51
In a match up of Badger South opponents Oregon upset Monona Grove. This was a four seed verse five seed so was guaranteed a good match up. They are conference opponents finishing second and third in the conference and they split their match ups during the regular season. The real story of the game was Oregon going against the Monona Grove 2-3 zone defense. On the offensive end Monona Grove didn't show much or have much of an offense going. Early on Oregon didn't seem to know how to attack the MG zone as they settled for threes after just passing the ball around the perimeter. The score was MG up 17-4 I think with Oregon in danger of being run out of the gym when they finally figured things out and they were still shooting the threes but, they were working from the inside out forcing MG to recover on kick outs and wide open threes. Oregon was streaking from the outside but, when they got going they hit the threes in  bunches. The biggest thing to note in the game is that Oregon had the top two players in the game in their senior stars 6'4 Alex Duff and 6'2 Charlie Soule. Duff hit the threes from the outside while Soule did most of his damage on the inside and in transition. Monona Grove didn't really show much offensive until the end of the game.

Top Players
Alex Duff 6'4 senior Oregon- Really a superb athlete that can jump out of the gym. Duff hit a pair of big threes in the first half and got out and ran in transition and finished with a big dunk in transition. Duff also controlled the glass grabbing every rebound.

Charlie Soule 6'2 senior Oregon- Very tough from the free throw line and in and can really score on the inside.

Ben Weiland 6'0 senior Oregon- Sharpshooter from the outside hit four huge threes in the game.

Myles Thomas 6'0 senior Monona Grove- Can really get to the rim and finish in a variety of ways.

Peyton Mueller 6'2 senior Monona Grove- The only MG player that could hit any shots from the outside hit some big perimeter shots late in the game.

Top Scorers
O- Duff 22 Soule 21 Weiland 15
MG- Thomas 20 Mueller 17 Luke Nelson 10


Madison Memorial 58 Oconomowoc 55
I really thought that Oconomowoc would win this one but, after seeing the game I'm not surprised by the outcome. Madison Memorial had kind of been so so all year long while Oconomowoc where conference champs. Memorial did what they do every game dominate the glass, hit some timely threes, and get some timely big play from 6'8 junior Chris Knight. In the first half Knight had a tough time because he had 6'10 senior Spencer Treder guarding him, which I'm sure Knight is not used to having a guy guarding him that's actually taller, and this took Knight completely out of the game before picking up two first half fouls and went scoreless in the first half. On the other end Memorial was having a tough time staying with 6'2 junior Zachary Clayton who moved extremely well without the ball and was hitting some big outside shots. Memorial got some big threes from the outside to keep them around and a pair of juniors 6'5 Jake Ferguson and 6'6 Matt Caropreso got a ton of rebounds and battled on the glass. In the second half Knight finally figured out that he was quicker then Treder and used that quickness to score around him. Also Ferguson did a nice job cutting to the rim and Clayton was just a little too slow to stop Ferguson. Memorial ran the same play over and over and Ferguson was able to score on the give and go cuts. Clayton did his thing all game long but, just couldn't get enough help from anyone else as only four guys scored in the game for Oconomowoc but, of course looking at Memorial they only have five guys score.

Top Players
Jake Ferguson 6'5 junior Madison Memorial- Ferguson is the key to this team and he doesn't score a ton but, in my opinion is their best player. He cut to the hoop getting easy layups, helped bring the ball up the court playing the guard position, rebounded, and did a pretty good job of guarding Clayton.

Chris Knight 6'8 junior Madison Memorial- Blocked a handful of shots, rebounded well, and was able to score 13 points in the second half using his quickness.

Zachary Clayton 6'2 junior Oconomowoc- Moved without the ball extremely well to get wide open threes and used his strength to score on the inside. Really a nice player and was probably the best player in the game.

Spencer Treder 6'10 senior Oconomowoc- Did a good job of defending Knight in the game and also showed some very nice post moves in the game.

Top Scorers
MM- Ferguson 14 Caropreso 13 Knight 13 Billy Wilson 10 Logan Knecht 8
O- Clayton 27 Treder 12 George Kneiser 8 Ethan Wegner 8

Well the next game Oregon lost to Waunakee and they were a senior dominated team so may be some time before they make any noise again in the playoffs. Memorial really had some luck as Madison West took down Middleton  the one Big Eight team they didn't beat this year and if they win will face either Sun Prairie or Muskego to get to state. Oconomowoc's star Clayton is a junior so he will be back next year but, everyone else that scored is a senior so we will see what next year brings. despite what happens to Memorial this week they start five juniors and only have two seniors that play so they will be a state contender this year and next year.