In a huge Big Eight match up last night I took in Madison Memorial hosting Madison East. This game would either allow Memorial to stay right behind Sun Prairie or allow East to get back in the conference in a long shot fourth place but, still a chance. East has been up and down all year and Memorial seemed to be struggling lately and this was all evident in this game.
East came out gunning behind the strong play of 6'0 senior Earl Lewis who hit a pair of early threes and was using his quickness to get to the rim and score. It looked like East might blow Memorial out but, 6'5 junior Nick Caropreso came to the rescue driving to the rim and hitting a pair of threes of his own. Caropreso did just enough to keep Memorial at least within striking distance as East had a half time lead of 10. Memorial couldn't make anything from the outside and was just too slow for East who is a pretty quick team. Memorial did have the height advantage and I thought they could of used it a little more as they really didn't seem to take advantage of it other then Caropreso a couple times.
The second half started out more of the same as East was doing everything right and Memorial was no where to be seen. East star 6'6 senior Keshawn Justice wasn't hitting the threes again but, he was scoring in the paint and getting fouled where he was hitting his foul shots. Again the game looked to be a blowout when Memorial's leading scorer 6'2 junior Logan Ellingson got going. Ellingson scored all his 11 points in the second half. East slacked off on defense and Ellingson took advantage and drove the lane for some easy baskets. In the end thought East had control throughout before nearly throwing the game away. East missed numerous free throws late and took some ill advised shots and game Memorial a chance at the end. Memorial promptly threw the game away them selves taking four straight wild three point shots that never had chances to go in.
Top Players
Earl Lewis 6'0 senior Madison East- Lewis was just to quick in this game. He was able to get to the rim any time he wanted and he hit some big threes early on.
Keshawn Justice 6'6 senior Madison East- Like I've seen too much for him this year the three point shot wasn't falling. Justice did a nice job of going into the paint to do his damage scoring in the post. Justice drew fouls all night long where he made his free throws and looked really good on the defensive end where he had some monster blocks.
Logan Ellingson 6'2 junior Madison Memorial- Always a heady player running the offense and handling the ball. Really looked to score in the second half driving the ball to the lane and real picked his times right.
Nick Caropreso 6'5 junior Madion Memorial- Really showed the complete game tonight offensively. He was hitting threes early on, drove the ball to the lane and scored using the euro step, and was able to post up smaller defenders.
Box Score
East 70- Justice 21 Lewis 18 Damontae Thompson 14 Keonte Jones 6 Anthony Washington 6 Justin Milke 4 Davion Washington 1 Marcus Justice 0
Memorial 63- Caropreso 21 Ellingson 11 Ian Brown 7 Amare Howard 6 Elliot Grays 4 Yacouba Traore Jr 4 Tyshawn Caldwell 4 Dryden Schaefer 3 Jack Krumbach 3
Well these are two teams going completely different directions. East might be peaking at just the right time while Memorial is really struggling and I think the lack of outside shooting is really hurting them and they don't have a guy that can just go out and get his own at any time.
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