Wins Over Palmyra-Eagle and Albany Help Ponies Clinch Six Rivers East Conference Championship
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Photo courtesy of Carmen Craker
Monticello Ponies pictured above in the win over Palmyra Eagle are Rudy Wicker, Peter Gustafson and Simon Blohowiak.
The Monticello Ponies boys basketball team hosted Palmyra-Eagle on February 10th. Down by 3 at the half, the Ponies stomped the Panthers in the second half to come away with the 71-50 win.
In the first half, the Ponies took the lead with about 7 minutes left, but the Panthers went on a 9-point run to tie the game at 19 with 4:20 left to go. The Panthers had the lead at the half.
With just over 15 minutes left in the game, a Devin Holtz 3-pointer gave the Ponies the lead and in the next 4 and a half minutes, the Ponies went on an 18-0 run to go up by 19. The closest Palmyra-Eagle was able to get the rest of the game was 16 points. The Ponies were 23-32 at the free throw line, while the Panthers were just 2-3.
Leading Monticello with 15 points were Rudy Wicker and Peter Gustafson; Wicker also had 7 rebounds while Gustafson had 10. Devin Holtz and Reece Rufer each scored 13 points, and Simon Blohowiak scored 9 points and had 8 rebounds.
On February 14th the Ponies played at Albany, showing the Comets no love on this chilly Valentine's Day. With a commanding 49-11 lead at the half, the Ponies kept the offensive pace throughout the second half to win the game. The final score was Monticello 83, Albany 30. The win on Friday night also saw the Ponies clinch the Six Rivers East Conference championship for the first time in over a decade.
The Ponies galloped to a 13-0 lead early on in the first half, and held the Comets to just 11 points for the half. The second half was more of the same as the Ponies dominated and brought home a win. As a team, the Ponies had 20 assists, 16 steals, 12 deflected passes and 8 recovered loose balls along with 48 rebounds.
Peter Gustafson scored 17 points and had 8 rebounds to lead the Ponies, while Reece Rufer scored 16 points with 15 rebounds, Tristin Flanagan scored 10 points and had 7 rebounds and Devin Holtz scored 8 points.
Undefeated in the Six Rivers East, the Ponies host Black Hawk on February 20th and play at Pecatonica on February 27th. As of February 18th, they are ranked 3rd in Division 5 in the wissports.net coaches poll and 4th in the AP poll.