Ponies Victorious Over Panthers

On February 22nd, the Monticello Ponies boys basketball team played at Juda for the final game of their regular season.
Both teams played hard the first half. The Ponies only held the lead once during the first (15-14) but the Panthers’ largest lead was only by 5 points, and the Ponies headed to the locker room just one point behind the Panthers at halftime.
After five minutes of back and forth scoring in the second, Reece Rufer hit a basket with 13:18 left in the game followed by a Braden Gafner 3 that stretched Monticello’s lead and gave them some breathing room. With 3:30 left to play, Monticello was ahead by 13 and Juda put together a 9-0 run to try to tie it up but in the final minute of the game the Ponies went on a run of their own and cruised to a victory.
“It was an emotional game for Juda as they had Senior Night, and paid a special tribute to their student coach who started and played in the only game in his high school career,” said Coach Mark Olson. “We were able to withstand the emotion and fight back for a really nice second half. Travis McCoy hit some big free throws down the stretch. It marks the first time we have finished at .500 in the conference in four years.”
Leading Monticello in scoring was Travis McCoy with 15 points. Reece Rufer scored 14 points and pulled down eight rebounds, Simon Blohowiak put 11 points on the board and Braden Gafner scored 10 points. Jon Errthum pulled down eight rebounds.
The Ponies ended their regular season with a fourth place Six Rivers East record of 6-6 and an overall record of 9-12. Seeded #8, the Ponies hosted #9 Beaver Dam Wayland Academy on Tuesday, February 27th, at 7:00 p.m. The winner of that game will play the winner of the #1 Deerfield vs #16 Abundant Life Christian/Saint Ambrose game on Friday, March 2nd at 7:00 p.m., at a location yet to be determined.