MONTICELLO — The past two seasons the Ponies won the Six Rivers East title on the backs of players of the year and all-state talents Reece Rufer and Peter Gustafson. Both have since graduated, though Rufer returned to be an assistant coach. Coming into this season, not many in the program knew what to expect.
“I’m awful proud of these guys,” Monticello head coach Mark Olson said. “We came into the season really green and didn’t have a ton of experience on the varsity floor, but we had a ton of guys who had played in our system and understand our expectations. They really stepped right in and didn’t miss a beat.”
The team has struggled in nonconference action this season (1-9), but has seen success in league play (11-0). That success in conference culminated Feb. 15 with a hard-fought 54-53 win over second-place Barneveld at home.
“It’s been a journey. Getting this 3-peat has really meant a lot with how tough this year has been,” senior Evan Guenther said. “In the past we’ve had a really strong set of leaders to really push us through the season, and this year it’s just our huge group of seniors that we have. We’ve just kind of leaned on one another. We came up playing together all through middle school, and now we are here in our senior year getting the conference championship — it really just means a lot.”
After the game, players and coach celebrated with family and friends, cutting down the nets.
“We focused on togetherness. You hear that a lot in football, and we are trying to do that here,” said sophomore Ryer Indergand. “I think the part that has helped us the most has been the leadership of the seniors. This is my first year of competitive varsity and the seniors have really helped guide me, like Jackson Eyler. They keep our heads up when we make a bad play and don’t let us put our heads down.”
In the first half against Barneveld, Monticello jumped out to a 26-17 lead thanks to 11 points from Indergand and another seven from Jackson Eyler. That lead extended to as much as 14 in the second half, but slowly over the final 7:36 the Eagles made a late push. Turnovers, missed free throws and defensive breakdowns aided the fire, with 50/50 breaks falling to the visitors seemingly more often than not.
“That was crazy. It felt like anything that could have bounced against us did; and we missed some free throws; it was just — hold on. Ryer stepped up and made a big free throw,” Olson said.
Indergand hit the second of two free throws with just four seconds remaining to put his team up by four points. During a timeout, Olson instructed his players not to guard the ball, or a shooter, and let the clock simply wind out with Barneveld out of timeouts. Eagles senior Chase Ignatius hit a 3-pointer just before the buzzer.
“I was getting a little worried there at the end. We weren’t playing very smart and we were a little out of control, but we will get better before Juda,” Indergand said.
Indergand finished with a team-high 18 points, while Evan Guenther scored 16 — including 11 in the second half. Eyler aded nine points and Brayden Ryan seven. Ignatius led Barneveld with 20 points.
“You see in games like this that they are getting better in our conference — everyone is getting better in our conference. A lot of these teams are young, and we have the advantage where we have a lot of inexperience, but we’re a little older. That matters for something,” Olson said.
The longtime head coach has seen his program travel to both the highs and lows over the years, and this group sticks out because of how they have meshed on the hardwood and came together as a singular cohesive unit to eek out some tough victories.
“We’re celebrating a 3-peat, but at the same time this is their own identity. They’ve done it different ways all year. They are a balanced team and not waiting on someone to go out and get them 25 a night. They take turns — when the shot is there, take it and hit it. They’ve played that way. They’ve played selfless. It’s been fun to watch.”
Monticello has just two games remaining on the schedule — a Feb. 18 game at Juda and a home nonconference date with Benton on Feb. 21. Then the team can breathe for a half of a second before preparing for the WIAA Division 5 playoffs.
“We still have goals going forward for each game, but from a coaching standpoint, I have to start looking ahead and getting prepared. There are a lot of teams out there and it takes a lot of work to scout. Our attention starts to turn to that a little bit, but in our practice days it’s about working on getting a little better each day,” Olson said.
Guenther said he hopes that when playoffs come, his team will get a decent seed as conference champs, regardless of overall record.
“Everything is up in the air right now in our regional based on our records. I’m confident that we can make a strong run (in the playoffs) with the way we are playing right now. If we just keep that rolling, we’re going to be a confident and strong team rolling into the postseason,” Guenther said.
