I was in some serious need of basketball so I caught the Madison Memorial verse Madison East game. Memorial lost everything from last year but, they have won 15 conference titles in a row for a reason and Madison East had a tremendously successful playoff run a year ago and brought back a large amount of last years team and they are one of the favorites in the conference. I have to say that Madison East is one of my favorite places to watch a game because of the energy. The gym is small and the fans are right on the court and the student sections sit behind the hoops which gives it a college feel.
Despite the ever changing lineups of high school ball I feel like I've been watching the same two teams play for the past six or sevens years. Memorial has a ton of overall size and lack much for guard play and Madison East has a ton of good guards and just never seem to have any height. Memorial will also play a slow determined pace and won't shoot many threes while East has no problem pushing the tempo and allowing their players to jack threes or go one on one. Memorial started four players at 6'4 or taller and had 6'5 and 6'6 off the bench. East on the other hand nearly always had three guards on the court.
The first half was relatively ugly as the halftime score was only 16 to 14 in Memorial's favor. Memorial couldn't get anything to fall but, their size allowed them to get second chance baskets and many times third chances which led to long possessions. East did a good job of packing things in and Memorial didn't have the shooter to pull them out or the guy that could break down the defense. Just as Memorial shot terrible so did East in particular their star 6'6 senior Keishawn Justice. Justice really forced things and didn't make a three all night and I think he really settled at times taking threes that he could get at any time and even when he drove the lane the shots just weren't falling. Yes Justice forced some shots but, it was just some bad luck as he had some bunnies just go in and out and a few times he missed two close shots. Justice went 0 for the night from three and ended up hitting just one shot on his way to just four points. Memorial was really a team effort as everyone chipped in the scoring column.
The second half is when things got interesting. Memorial came out gunning early in the second half and were up by nine of 10 points much of the second half using their size to score on the inside and on second chance points. East continued to struggle through the half way point of the second half as Memorial built a 40-25 lead with about eight or nine minutes left in the game. The Memorial crowd seemed to really be getting on the East players but, that just seemed to feed them as they played with a ton of energy down the stretch. East started to press Memorial and their lack of guard played showed as they force Memorial into turnover after turnover and then a jump ball and next thing you knew it was 44-41 game and east was shooting for a tie. After a possession where they missed three threes, 6'0 senior Earl Lewis hit his lone three of the game and his teams lone three, to tie the game. After each team scored to tie the game at 46 it set the stage for the Memorial win. Memorial ran the clock down and on the drive to the rim lost the ball and the loose ball found 6'5 junior Ian Brown under the hoop who laid in the shot at the buzzer to win.
Top Players
Cade Ellingson 6'2 junior Memorial- Honestly didn't do anything extravagant in the game but, he's just a heady player that always seemed to be in the right place at the right time. Did a nice job of cutting to the rim and his team mates would find him from the opposite block.
Amare Howard 6'5 senior Memorial- Big energy boast off the bench. Really crashed the glass and had some big offensive rebounds.
Datril Thompson 5'8 senior East- For whatever reason he didn't start but, was clearly the best player on the court tonight. No one from Memorial could stay in front of him and could get to the rim at well. Did a nice job of challenging the bigger East defenders getting into their bodies and forcing the action.
Keonte Jones 6'3 sophomore East- Another big boast off the bench as he drove to the lane fearlessly and was able to score or get fouled where he made his free throws.
Anthony Washington 6'3 sophomore East- Didn't even score in the game but, his rebounding really jumped out to me. He can real jump and did a great job of battling the bigger Memorial players.
Box Score
Memorial 48- Ellingson 12 Brown 12 Nick Caropreso 10 Howard 6 Elliot Gray 5 Dryden Schaefer 2 Tyshawn Caldwell 1 Jack Krumbach 0 Yacouba Traore Jr 0
East 46- Datril Thompson 16 Jones 11 Lewis 11 K Justice 4 Marcus Justice 4 Damontae Thompson 0 Washington 0 Davion Washington 0 Nick Wilcox 0
I'm gonna be honest I think Madison East is the better team but, just didn't play well and Memorial got a little lucky in the end. I really can see these two teams being the two teams to challenge Sun Prairie for the conference title.
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