Madison Memorial splits a pair

Took in a pair of Madison Memorial games last week which I didn't get the chance to write about. Memorial seemed to be in control of the Big Eight Conference but, now things might be in question as they dropped a game to Sun Prairie and now sit tied with them at the top of the conference.

The first game saw Memorial go to Sun Prairie that led to tie for first in the conference. The story of the game was 6'6 freshmen Jalen Johnson who took this game over from the get go hitting a pair of threes to start the game off. Every time I see Johnson play he looks better and better. I'll admit when I first saw him I saw a lot of talent but, didn't see all the hype. Well I can say now that I'm a believer in the hype. Johnson really carried the team early as leading scorer 6'4 junior Marlson Ruffin struggled a bit but, then turned it on in the second half. Memorial got down big early and just couldn't come back. Memorial is a team that doesn't shoot a lot of threes and really look to pound the ball inside to their big men. This mind set is great if your team is in the lead but, if they get down early it's very tough for them to come back. Late in the second half it felt like Memorial might be able to tie the game or take the lead but, they played a little too much hero ball going one on one and couldn't get the game under five points. Just comes down to the fact that Johnson and Ruffin were the two best players on the court scoring 26 and 23 each. For Memorial 6'8 senior Chris Knight had 23 of his own. I've said it numerous times but, 6'6 senior Jake Ferguson is the key to their team. Ferguson does all the little things rebounding, helping bring the ball up the court, he can really score at times, and in this game took the challenge of guarding Johnson in the second half which took Johnson out of his game while Memorial played man to man. I would like to see Ferguson be more aggressive though as it seems like he can really score but, seems content to let his team mates do the scoring. I would also like to see Memorial go back to a man to man base defense. They play mostly zones this year and it opens the door to open threes and mismatches because the offense can determine the match ups.

Game two Memorial was able to play their game of solid defense and slow paced game. Foul trouble was the story early on as Ferguson picked up a pair of fouls early and sat much of the first half but, the bigger story was the foul trouble of Janesville Craig big man 6'9 senior Adam Anhold. Anhold was plagued with foul trouble all night and ended up fouling out early in the second half on a questionable foul and never made much of an impact in the game. Anhold out Knight took advantage and had a big game in the post scoring 23 of the teams 57 points. Craig really shot the three well late in this game to get back into the game but, it was just a little too late.

Just some final thoughts. Memorial is what they are. If the game is a low scoring game defensive struggle I like their chances but, if it's high scoring game I'm just not sure. I can see Sun Prairie, Middleton, or even Madison East taking them down in the playoffs. Sun Prairie really seems to be peaking at the right time and Ruffin and Johnson will be a scary two some next year and it could be a banner year for Prairie. Craig seems to be going in the wrong direction and I just don't know what the future entails for them.