The Monticello Ponies hosted last year's Division 4 state champion the New Glarus Knights on December 2nd. Leading by 11 at the half, the Ponies kept pressure on the Knights in the second half and won the game. The final score was Monticello 74, New Glarus 63.

New Glarus jumped out to a 9-1 lead in the first five minutes of the game, and the Ponies went on a 13-0 run to take the lead shortly thereafter. New Glarus tied it up at 16, but the Ponies battled back with a 12-2 run to go up by 10 and after that the closest New Glarus could get was 6 points for the rest of the game.

"Last week was a busy basketball week for us. Monday night was a showdown with our Highway 69 rivals. It was a hard-fought game where we had to battle back from an early deficit," said Coach Mark Olson. "I thought we did a good job of handling their pressure and attacking the rim. They are a good team and we were glad to get a win for the first time in a few years."

Leading Monticello with 23 points was Reece Rufer, who also had 8 rebounds. Peter Gustafson scored 15 points and had 7 rebounds, Rudy Wicker scored 14 points and Simon Blohowiak put 14 points on the board and led the team with 13 rebounds.

Leading scorers for New Glarus were Nathan Streiff with 26 points, Connor Siegenthaler with 12 points and Darris Schuett with 9 points.

On December 5th, the Ponies played at Madison Country Day School, and all 14 players got significant playing time during the game. Monticello led 61-14 at the half and cruised to an easy 86-33 victory.

The Ponies jumped out to a 24-5 lead in the first 10 minutes of play and never looked back.

"[We] used our press to build a lead early," noted Coach Olson. "Thirteen players scored for us."

Peter Gustafson poured in 26 points for the Ponies and had 5 rebounds, while Simon Blohowiak scored 12 points, Rudy Wicker put 11 points on the board and Reece Rufer had 9 points and 4 rebounds. Tristin Flanagan had 6 rebounds.

On Saturday, December 7th, Monticello headed to Belmont. Down by 3 at the half, the Ponies came back and won the game, 55-43.

With just over 5 minutes in, the Ponies tied the game 7-7, but the first half was all Belmont. Monticello came out in the second half and went on an 11-0 run to go up by 8 and Belmont couldn't overcome the run to retake the lead.

Leading the Ponies in scoring was Peter Gustafson, with 20 points. He also had 4 rebounds. Reece Rufer scored 11 points and had 6 rebounds and Devin Holtz scored 6 points while Tristin Flanagan pulled down 13 rebounds.

The Ponies hosted Argyle on December 10th, will play at Barneveld on December 13th and then will host Juda on December 19th.