MONTICELLO — A team with the pedigree that the Ponies have can handle the rollercoaster ride of scoring seen in basketball. Sometimes there is a lull (or two) in the middle of the game, and sometimes it comes at the beginning.

In Monticello’s regular season home finale against Black Hawk, the lull came early.

“We were disappointed in our defense in the first 12 minutes of the half,” Monticello coach Mark Olson said after his Ponies galloped past the Warriors 90-52 Feb. 20. “I didn’t think we were as focused and intense defensively as we needed to be. I thought that little spurt before halftime kind of woke us up a little bit and gave us some momentum.”

Black Hawk went ahead by as much as nine points at 19-10 in the first half, but then the Ponies found their stride, closing the half on a 25-10 run to take control of the game headed into the locker room.

“Olson just calmed us down and said we had to lock it up on the defense end, and we did that, and it helped get the offense in motion,” said Monticello senior Reece Rufer, who had 15 points in the first half.

Once the second half started, the momentum stayed on the side of the home team. Rufer, who scored 31 against Black Hawk earlier this season, kept right on going and finished the night with 27. His teammates started putting the rock in the hole, too.

“I thought our offensive possessions were better in the second half,” Olson said.

Rufer wasn’t the only one taking it to the Warriors. Simon Blohowiak scored nine of his 11 points in the second half, and Pete Gustafson added eight of his 13 after halftime. 

Monticello opened the second half on a 6-0 run, and after Black Hawk’s Clayton Stietz scored on a layup in transition, the Ponies reeled off another 15-3 run, highlighted on a steal and dunk by Gustafson at the 14:23 mark that led to a Warrior timeout.

Black Hawk also struggled with foul trouble throughout the game. Despite a slow start offensively, Monticello went into halftime with just three team fouls — Gustafson had two. Meanwhile, the Warriors were whistled nine times in the first half and another 16 times after the break. That led to a free throw disparity that favored Monticello 34-4. The Ponies made 20 of their freebies, while the Warriors hit just three.

“We got into a little bit of foul trouble and it slowed down our momentum,” Black Hawk coach Trent Wyssbrod said. “We had a good game plan going into this, playing Clayton Stietz on Reece and having Lucas Flanagan on Gustafson, and they did a really good job until they got into foul trouble — then we struggled. Fouls were huge.”

Stietz led Black Hawk with 14 points, while Thatcher Schliem had nine and Lucas Flanagan seven. Eleven of the 13 Ponies that hit the floor scored.

After the game, the Ponies cut down the nets after clinching sole ownership of the Six Rivers East championship. It had been 10 seasons since Monticello last won the conference title, which was shared three years in a row.

“Small schools have the ebbs and flows,” Olson said. “We hoped it wouldn’t hit as low as it did, but I think we’re starting to see now the time we spent with our youth is starting to come through. And we got a little bit lucky, too. I’ve got great kids who are smart, hard-working, are good athletes and they play together — that’s a big part of it.”

Both Black Hawk and Monticello close out the regular season this week. Monticello is slated for a road game Feb. 27 at Pecatonica. A win would give the Ponies an unbeaten season in the Six Rivers East. Black Hawk’s final game is the same night at home against Juda.

“Defensively we are a way better team than we were at the beginning of the year. We’re still struggling to score the ball, which we’ve done pretty much all year,” Wyssbrod said. “We’ve got to find a way to score the ball.”

In the postseason, Black Hawk hosts Pecatonica in the opening round, while Monticello (20-1) has a bye in the first round.

“Nothing given to us yet. Once the tournament starts it’s one-and-done, and we’re not trying to be done in the first game,” said Rufer, who is eighth in school history in points scored at 1,211. The No. 7 spot in Monticello lore is just 10 points away, and No. 6 is 21 points. The fifth spot is 41 points away. Rufer is averaging nearly 19 points per game this season.