The Monticello Ponies, undefeated and sitting at the top of the Six Rivers East Conference, hosted Dodgeville on January 21st for a non-conference game.

Tied four minutes into the game, the Ponies went on a 12-3 run to go up by 9. The visitors battled back and got within 4 points when Devin Holtz hit three 3-point baskets to put Monticello up by 14 with five minutes left in the half. By halftime, Monticello had a 48-27 lead over the Dodgers. Coming out of the locker room, the Ponies began the second half with a 6-0 run and the closest Dodgeville got the rest of the game was 20 points. The final score was Monticello 83, Dodgeville 51.

"This week we had a non-conference home game with Dodgeville," said Coach Mark Olson. "I thought our pressure in the first half got Dodgeville out of sync and gave us a chance to push the lead to 21 by halftime."

Leading the way for the Ponies with 36 points was Peter Gustafson, while Reece Rufer scored 22 points and had 10 rebounds, Devin Holtz scored 9 points. Simon Blohowiak and Tristin Flanagan pulled down 10 and 8 rebounds, respectively.

On January 23rd, Monticello played at Argyle. The first half was a close contest, but the contributions of Peter Gustafson and Blake Klitzke put the Ponies up 25-17 at the half. With 3:21 left in the game, Monticello had stretched their lead to 16 points, but the Orioles fought back to get within 10. The Ponies then sank 4 free throws and a basket to win the game. The final score was Monticello 53, Argyle 40.

"We started the second round of conference play by going to Argyle. It was a physical, hard fought game," commented Coach Olson. "Once we adjusted to their pressure, we did a nice job of moving the ball to good scoring spots, and did a nice job defensively against them."

Peter Gustafson led Monticello with 25 points, while Reece Rufer scored 18 points with 9 rebounds and Simon Blohowiak put 7 points on the board and pulled down 5 rebounds.

Monticello hosted Barneveld on January 28th, will play a Six Rivers crossover game at River Ridge on January 31st and will host Benton on February 3rd.