With a No. 1 seed already wrapped on in their regional, the Madison boys didn’t need a win on Friday at Lyndon.
They didn’t want a loss, of course, but a 58-50 loss might not have been the worst thing for their postseason fate.
“Despite the loss, I think going into the postseason that’s what’s these young men are looking forward to,” Madison coach Alan Brown said. “From the game tonight, we learned from our decision-making and I think that will just carry us over into the postseason play and I think these young men are ready to live up to the task at hand.”
The Bulldogs led 36-34 going into the fourth quarter against the Tigers, but struggles at the line and on the defensive end were too much to overcome.
Madison made only 5-of-12 free throws, compared to 16-of-21 for Lyndon.
“I still felt that our kids had a couple opportunities to get stops and we didn’t get that done,” Brown said.
Michael Luthi led Madison with 21 points, and Lyndon was led by Trey Brown, who scored a game-high 22 points.
“Trey Brown really stepped up his game and hurt us inside,” Alan Brown said. “I was real impressed with the play of Brown. He really stepped it up for them, caused us some matchup problems.”
Madison (12-8) will get a first round bye in its regional and will play next Friday against the winner of Waverly and Center.
“You don’t want to say it was a quality loss,” Brown said, “but if we had to lose a game right before going into the postseason, this will get us refocused.”
Lyndon 58, Madison 50
Madison 9 8 19 14 — 50
Lyndon 12 7 15 24 — 58
Lyndon — Brown 22, Banzhaf 12, Spencer 10, Wilson 6, Windling 3, Filburn 3, Decker 2.
Madison (12-8) — Luthi 21, Ka. Schankie 10, Ott 7, Hamilton 4, Elwood 3, Damron 2, Childers 2, Nowell 1.
Madison girls 77,
Lyndon 48
Shelby Buster led Madison with 23 points and the Bulldogs finished their regular season with a win at Lyndon.
Madison jumped out to a big lead early, 28-13, and Buster and fellow frontcourt teammate Tera Titus, who scored 16 points, controlled the paint.
Chelcie Schankie added 11 points, and Madison had nine players score.
Madison girls 77, Lyndon 48
Madison 28 14 16 19 — 77
Lyndon 13 16 12 7 — 48
Madison — Ratcliff 6, Olson 6, Shaklee 2, Schankie 11, Stout 5, Ballard 6, Buster 23, Bybee 2, Titus 16.
Lyndon — Wigger 2, Gales 21, Fine 10, Bronson 6, Burkett 6, Barone 3.