This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Sports

Defense Leads Unbeaten Madison Boys Basketball To Another Win

Dodgers surpass win total from last season with victory over Mountain Lakes.

MOUNTAIN LAKES – After opening the season with 12 straight wins, the Madison High School boys basketball team knows it is a high-profile target of every other Morris County team. But the Dodgers keep confidently going about their business, and the wins keep coming.

Jake Meister finished with 16 points, 10 rebounds and four assists to lead Madison to a chippy 53-30 win over Mountain Lakes Tuesday afternoon at Mountain Lakes High School.

Aaron Fant added 13 points and four assists for the Dodgers (13-0), which have now won more games than they did all of last season. Madison finished the 2008-09 campaign 12-14.

Find out what's happening in Madisonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Madison led by just five points midway through the third quarter before pulling away with a smothering 1-3-1 zone defensive effort.

"We changed from a man to the 1-3-1," said Madison coach Bill Librera. "And we really helped out our offense, because everything we did started with our defense."

Find out what's happening in Madisonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The Dodgers controlled the game from the outset, with Meister scoring nine first-quarter points and the Dodgers' zone forced Mountain Lakes to airball a number of shots. Eddie McAndrew's offensive rebound and putback on Madison's first offensive possession of the second quarter gave the Dodgers an 18-4 lead.

But Mountain Lakes slowly whittled that lead down, pulling within five points on two occasions–the second coming on Ethan Labowitz's 3-pointer with 4:35 left in the third quarter. That cut the Madison lead to 30-25. But the Lakers (2-9) would only make one more shot from the field.

"We know that it was their biggest game," Meister said. "Teams want to come after us now, and be the team that knocks off the unbeaten team. We have to fight through it, just like we did today."

The zone made it difficult for the Lakers to get off clean shots and forced a number of turnovers. Robbie Savacool's layup on the fast break a minute into the fourth quarter capped an 11-0 run and ensured another Madison victory.

But this one would be a bit more out-of-control than others, as the fourth quarter degenerated into an overly physical foul-fest.

Even with Madison comfortably ahead early in the fourth quarter, the Dodgers made just one field goal–and six free throws–over the first seven minutes, a testament to the sloppy, physical nature of the fourth quarter.

It couldn't quite overshadow yet another comprehensive team effort by Madison, which won its fourth straight game by 10 points or more after eight straight wins of eight points or less.

The Dodgers shot 44 percent from the field (21-for-48), with seven of those field goals–and both of Madison's made 3-pointers–coming in the first quarter. Matt McHale, who made his first 3-pointer of the season in the first quarter, finished with six rebounds and four steals.

Mountain Lakes pulled within 20-15 with 3:00 to play in the second quarter as Madison's offense briefly stalled, but Fant made back-to-back layups to give the Dodgers a 24-15 lead.

Madison took a 26-18 advantage into halftime.

Fant made two more crucial buckets to end Mountain Lakes' last run, hitting a fadeaway shot in the post and a transition layup from Savacool to make it 35-25.

NEXT UP

Madison returns to Northwest Jersey Athletic Conference-Independence Division play Thursday night when it hosts Parsippany (3-12, 1-5). Tip time is set for 7 p.m. The two teams have already met this season, with the Dodgers pulling out a 51-45 victory in Parsippany on Dec. 22. In that game, Fant scored nine points and pulled down 17 rebounds as Madison slowly pulled away for the win.

The Red Hawks are on a two-game losing streak since their only division win, a 60-56 victory over Dover on Jan. 19.

SCORING SUMMARY
Madison                  16  10  13  14  -  53
Mountain Lakes     4  14    7    5  -  30

INDIVIDUAL SCORING
MAD- Jake Meister 16, Aaron Fant 13, Matt McHale 8, Matt Haughey 6, Robbie Savacool 4, Eddie McAndrew 4, Justin Goodwin 2
ML- Ethan Labowitz 14, Kevin Ryan 7, Tim Labeau 5, Jimmy Boyhan 4

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?