On Thursday, February 11th, the Monticello Ponies boys basketball team hosted the Juda Panthers. With a 30-point halftime lead, the Ponies went on to easily win the game. The final score was Monticello 68, Juda 29.

Peter Gustafson had 7 steals for the Ponies, resulting in five dunks, three of which occurred within 1 minute and 12 seconds in the first half. Ten Ponies players got court time during the game, nine of which scored at least 2 points.

Leading Monticello with 27 points, 5 assists and 3 rebounds was Peter Gustafson, while Owen Ace scored 13 points and had 3 rebounds and 2 assists, and Logan Blum scored 7 points and had 3 rebounds and 1 assist.

On Saturday, February 13th, the Ponies hosted the Brodhead Cardinals. Trailing by 2 at the half, the Ponies had several turnovers in the second half which the Cardinals' offense took advantage of and Monticello lost the game. The final score was Brodhead 68, Monticello 63.

The visiting Cardinals jumped out to a 10-0 lead in the first 2.5 minutes of the game and lead the entire rest of the first half. With 5:22 left in the first, the Ponies were down by 10, but scored 18 points in a row to end the first half and begin the second. Monticello and Brodhead traded points throughout the second half, with the Ponies holding a 12-point lead with 10:52 to go. With 3 minutes left the Ponies still held a 10-point lead over the Cardinals but several turnovers were to Brodhead's advantage and they scored the last 15 points of the game to win it.

Peter Gustafson led the Ponies with 38 points and 6 rebounds. Owen Ace scored 9 points, Tristin Flanagan scored 8 points and had 12 rebounds and Rudy Wicker pulled down 6 rebounds.

"After coming back from a 2-week COVID-related break, I wasn't sure how we would respond, but I thought we played with good effort against Juda," explained Coach Mark Olson. "Against Brodhead we played really well, with the exception of the opening and closing 3 minutes, and against a very talented team like them, that was too much time to let down our focus and intensity. It is something we will need to learn from as we approach the playoffs this week. I am very proud of our boys for staying resilient through a challenging season and bringing home a second consecutive undefeated season in our conference."

Photo courtesy of Julie Garrison

Monticello Basketball Seniors: Logan Blum, Rudy Wicker, Peter Gustafson, Tristin Flanagan, Owen Ace, Lucas Heiser, Cade Femrite and Manager Anyka Swanson.

The Monticello Ponies are seeded #1 for the WIAA D5 Sectionals. They received a first round bye and will host the winner of the #5 Faith Christian (Williams Bay) and #4 Catholic Central game on Friday, February 19th, at 7:00 p.m. The game will be broadcast live on Monticello School's YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6H2xkDryGUaXq8NiqjG1Ig/live.