Mount Horeb won a battle for first place, topping DeForest 75-62 on Saturday, while Reedsburg beat Beaver Dam 62-59 and Monroe breezed past Watertown 64-51 in Badger Conference play on Saturday afternoon.
BADGER NORTH: Mount Horeb pulled away in the second half to top DeForest 75-62 to break the first-place tie between the teams atop the conference. The Vikings improved to 8-3 on the season and 6-0 in the Badger North, and with a win Thursday against Portage would sweep the first half of conference play. Mount Horeb faces River Valley on Monday night. DeForest, meanwhile, will play third-place Waunakee on Thursday in a game that will air on The Big 1070 and iHeartRadio. Before that, the Norskies play a tough non-conference game against Lakeside Lutheran on Tuesday night... Baraboo got 14 points from Caden Blum, but fell short against Milwaukee Juneau on Saturday at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, 43-41. The Thunderbirds will see Wautoma on Tuesday night in non-conference play... Reedsburg outlasted Beaver Dam 62-59 in overtime on Saturday to stay in third place in the conference. The Beavers will play Sauk Prairie Thursday night. Meanwhile, Beaver Dam will face last-place Baraboo on Thursday night as well.
BADGER SOUTH: Monona Grove got a win in the Wendy's Classic at Loras College in Iowa over West Dubuque, 70-60. Next up is a non-conference game against Columbus on Tuesday night... Oregon defeated Stoughton 55-48, so now the teams are tied atop the Badger South.
In Badger South Conference play, Monroe used a stifling defense to take a commanding 34-9 halftime lead against Watertown on the road on Saturday afternoon.
The Cheesemakers didn't allow a point by a Watertown starter until nearly two minutes into the second half, and led by as many as 27 before settling for a 13-point victory.
In the first half, freshman Carson Leuzinger tied for the team lead with 10 points, six of them coming at the free throw line, while leading scorer Kade King powered his way to 10 points of his own as Monroe dominated both ends of the floor in the first half.
Watertown fought back in the second half, as Cade Oiler went on an eight-point run of his own early in the second half to get the deficit back under 20. Oiler, who finished with a team-high 13 points, hit a pair of threes to get the Goslings back into it.
However, Monroe's answer came in the form of Cade Meyer, who was recently ranked in the top 50 of all sophomores statewide by WisSports.net Meyer hit four threes in a 17-point second half to finish with a game-high 20, which allowed Monroe to coast to an easy victory on the road Saturday afternoon.
Watertown made some late baskets with reserves to decrease Monroe's margin of victory, but as Cheesemakers head coach Brian Bassett said after the game, it was as close to a complete game as Monroe had played all year.
Monroe will play Milton on Thursday in their next game. The win Saturday moved the Cheesemakers into a tie for third place in the Badger South with Monona Grove as the season reaches its midway point.
MONROE: 34|30=64
WATERTOWN: 9|42=51
Monroe Scoring: Cade Meyer 20, Kade King 17, Carson Leuzinger 10, J.T. Seagreaves 8, Nick Schumacher 5, Nick Lange 4.
Watertown Scoring: Cade Oiler 13, Kory Stas 11, Payton Foltz 8, Deon Nailing 5, Derek Rowedder 4, Graham Stramara 3, Alec Lauersdorf 3, Clayton Haase 2, Jacob Crogan 2.