Not this Time: Madison Out-Muscles Chatham

One year ago, the Chatham boys basketball team knocked neighborhood rival Madison High out of the Morris County Tournament. On Saturday night in Madison, the Dodgers returned the favor, stopping Chatham 58-47 in an MCT first-round showdown.

Chatham was overwhelmed by Madison’s size and physicality all game as the Dodgers were able to stifle the Cougars attack inside, forcing Chatham into taking bad shots while controlling the rebounds.

“They were just too physical for us, too strong,” Chatham head coach Todd Ervin said. “We couldn’t handle it inside and we didn’t play real well on the glass.”

Despite Madison’s physicality, Chatham was able to stay within an arms reach throughout much of the game, led by junior guard Jonathan Berntsen's 16 points.

“They were definitely more physical than us, we didn’t box out well, bad decisions and they played harder than us,” Berntsen explained. “We didn’t shoot well. I think that’s the bottom line. We didn’t get a lot of open looks, when we did we knocked those down, usually, but we forced too many jump shots. I know I certainly did.”

But with 5:17 remaining in the second quarter, Madison’s Jake Meister and junior Matt Gilbert led the Dodgers on a 9-0 run which was sealed with Gilbert’s fourth block of the half, leading to a Meister layup and a 22-12 lead.

While Madison was in control throughout the entire game, Chatham worked their way back to a five-point deficit with just five minutes remaining in the game as sophomore Sam Carson nailed a three pointer from deep.

But just as quickly as Chatham worked back to striking range, Madison closed the door as Madison seniors Aaron Fant and Meister combined to hit three three-pointers, leading Madison to the win.

“I thought we probably made too many bad decisions and we turned the ball over a couple too many times,” Ervin said. And then they hit a couple of big three’s when we were making our runs.”

Chatham looks to improve from the setback.

“We have to take the good things from this loss, take the bad things, learn from them and try to get better next game,” Berntsen said.