Madison East-Madison Memorial Prospect Standouts

MADISON -- Avenging a loss from Dec. 28, Madison Memorial salvaged a regular season series split with cross-town rival Madison East by way of a 73-64 victory Tuesday night in Big Eight Conference play.   [player_tooltip player_id="1274622" first="Clevon" last="Easton"] - 2025 - G - Madison East It’s a pretty good sign of respect when the opposition throws out a 6-foot-7 forward to try and defend a 6-foot-2 freshman guard. That’s what Easton was going up against Thursday and still delivered a team-high 22 points. A top-five prospect in the freshman class, Easton has a chance to be the next big thing in the Big Eight. Easton has a lot of intriguing things about him. A plus-length guard with explosive handles and break-you-down ability, Easton can get to the rim in a blink of an eye. Usually, you don’t see prospects pop athletically until their sophomore year, but Easton gets off the ground in a hurry and can dunk off two feet with little to no momentum easily. Outside shot, both off the catch and off the dribble, needs a lot of work, but Easton did knock down two triples on Thursday. This lefty is very good with both hands though and can even hit running floaters with the right. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> Meet 2025 guard [player_tooltip player_id="1274622" first="Clevon" last="Easton"] of Madison East. <a href="https://twitter.com/JrClevon?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@JrClevon</a> <a href="https://t.co/gPkH8Vt1e9">pic.twitter.com/gPkH8Vt1e9</a> — Evan Flood (@Evan_Flood) <a href="https://twitter.com/Evan_Flood/status/1491959584457740300?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 11, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> [player_tooltip player_id="1384712" first="Camron" last="Henderson"] - 2024 - G - Madison East Henderson gave East a nice spark in both halves. An instant offense guard, Henderson is a speedy ball handler with electric handles. He can shake defenders in the open floor and either attack the rim or hit them with pull-up 3-pointers. Henderson scored 14 points for the Purgolders and really didn’t take that many shots. Think Henderson’s quickness on the ball, combined with his ability to shoot beyond the arc, and mix in a running floater has the potential to really stress a lot of defenses in the future, especially at a program like East, who can really spread the floor with guard play. [player_tooltip player_id="1260947" first="Sam" last="Mickelson"] - 2024 - F - Madison Memorial Mickelson dropped 28 points to lead the Spartans to a nice conference win. The sophomore forward isn’t flashy in anything that he does and doesn’t make the game harder than he has to be. Mickelson knows where his bread is buttered and sticks to ways he can be successful. The 6-foot-7 forward moves block to block looking for post touches and is a go-to scorer down low. Love the mid-range shooting ability in the catch-and-shoot game. If he can’t get a post touch, Mickelson can step out and knock it down from 12-18 feet. Mickelson is also a quality screener and sets up a lot of his own offense by picking off defenders, forcing his man to help. East had little to no answer for Mickelson all night. What I liked the most is that Mickelson was the competitive player on the floor and when the Purdgolders made their run in the second half, he elevated that intensity and made a variety of plays that had nothing to do with scoring the basketball. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> 2024 forward [player_tooltip player_id="1260947" first="Sam" last="Mickelson"] dropped 28 points to lead <a href="https://twitter.com/SpartanJmm?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SpartanJmm</a> to a win over Madison East.<a href="https://twitter.com/SamMickelson_?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SamMickelson_</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/CoachCollinsJMM?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@CoachCollinsJMM</a> <a href="https://t.co/SDu9XZm3ZN">pic.twitter.com/SDu9XZm3ZN</a> — Prep Hoops Wisconsin (@PrepHoops_WI) <a href="https://twitter.com/PrepHoops_WI/status/1492242754071576582?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 11, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> [player_tooltip player_id="865853" first="Massimo" last="Malterer"] - 2022 - G - Madison East Malterer missed most of the first half after suffering what appeared to be an ankle injury. He did come back in the second and put together a huge spurt to get the Purgolders back in the game and even give them a lead. Malterer scored 16 points, 14 of which came in the final period. One of the biggest assets Malterer has -- the defense knows what’s coming, but they still can’t stop it. Everyone knows Malterer is going to his right hand and is looking to get into the paint. He gets smothered, but still finds ways to score in traffic and avoid shot blockers despite being an above-the-rim or explosive athlete. Jumper looked much improved on Thursday as well. Malterer came down the floor and hit a couple of tough shots in isolation. A potentially sneaky good addition at the Division 3 level, Malterer is also an instinctive defender that plays the passing lanes and can generate turnovers. [player_tooltip player_id="1374851" first="Ian" last="Wischhoff"] - 2025 - PG - Madison Memorial Not sure if Wischhoff will make the initial top 25 rankings in the freshman class. However, if you were ranking impact freshman in the state right now, he’d be on that list. Just love the poise this youngster plays with. You can’t rattle him, he keeps his cool against ball pressure, he picks his spots extremely well, and just seems to make every right play on the floor. Chipping in with 14 points, Wischhoff had a number of timely buckets in the second half. He’s the type of point guard that can really lull defenders to sleep. You get the impression he’s a game manager who’s on the floor to get sets organized, which he is, but if you make a mistake and give up a driving lane, Wischoff can really hit a gap and knife through defenses.