MONTICELLO - Ben May drove to the basket and made a layup with five seconds left to give Monticello a 52-50 victory over Potosi.
Monticello led most of the game, but Potosi's Mitch Langkamp scored with 20 seconds left to tie the game at 50 and set up May's heroics.
"We didn't put enough of a body on Langkamp and he got to the basket," Monticello coach Mark Olson said. "We got it in-bounds and saw they were scrambling a little bit on D, so instead of calling a timeout we decided to just play it out. We gave it to Ben and he drove to the basket and made a reverse layup."
Langkamp was Potosi's leading scorer with 19 points. May scored 20 points to lead the Ponies. Bryce Klitzke added 16 for Monticello, and Lucas Marty also broke into double figures with 10 points.
"Early, Bryce was able to get to the rim. He broke the D down a little. They ran a zone and he found some lanes in it," Olson said. "Ben found a way to score throughout the game and of course he had the big basket."
Monticello (15-2, 6-2 in the Six Rivers East) now begins to prepare for a big game with conference-leading Black Hawk next Thursday. The Ponies knocked off the Warriors 67-59 back on Dec. 11. Olson said that Potosi was a good test going into that game because Black Hawk and Potosi are similar teams.
"From Tuesday to tonight, we had some things we wanted to get better at. We did a better job tonight, but there are still some things we want to get better at," Olson said. "Potosi and Black Hawk are similar teams. They're both fairly talented teams. We can learn a little from ourselves tonight."
ALBANY 54, BENTON 44
ALBANY - Isaiah Shell scored 26 points to lead the Albany boys basketball team to a 54-44 win over Benton.
Albany's offense was on fire from the get-go, as the Comets put up 22 in the first quarter and 18 in the second to take a 40-25 lead into halftime.
"We didn't miss too many shots and we made a ton of shots, which was big to get the momentum early on your home floor," said Albany coach Derik Doescher.
The Zephyrs slowed things down in the second half, and outscored the Comets 19-14 in the final two quarters, but it wasn't enough to complete the comeback.
"We did enough late to get the win," Doescher said. "We talked about coming out in the third and putting them away. To Benton's credit, they slowed the game down in the second half. We got a lot of transition points in first half, but they played more half-court in the second half."
Shell scored 21 of his 26 in the first half.
"He had a big first half; 21 at halftime," Doescher said. "Another adjustment Benton made was they did a nice job on him in the second half. They really focused on him."
Albany (7-10, 2-5) kept the momentum from their upset victory over Monticello on Tuesday going, and Doescher is hopeful it can continue.
"Getting off to a good start is huge. We still gotta work on putting two halves together. We came out intense and ready to play ball," he said. "We played pretty good right off our win against Monticello. We're starting to play pretty good ball as we get closer to tournament time."
Black Hawk 60, River Ridge 41
SOUTH WAYNE - Black Hawk, ranked eighth in the Associated Press Division 5 state poll, won its ninth straight game knocking off River Ridge in the Six Rivers Challenge.
Black Hawk (13-1) trailed 14-7 at the end of the first quarter. However, the Warriors outscored the Timberwolves 15-6 in the second quarter to grab the lead. The Warriors took control of the game by outscoring the Timberwolves 26-9 in the third quarter.
Black Hawk junior Seth Butler scored a game-high 22 points and was 6 of 6 from the free throw line in the fourth quarter. Black Hawk senior Merik Meythaler added 13 points and sophomore Heath Butler chipped in eight. The Warriors had a big edge at the free throw line shooting 21 to the Timberwolves two. Black Hawk finished 16 of 21 from the charity stripe.
Shullsburg 40, Juda 32
JUDA - The Juda boys basketball team was unable to stave off Shullsburg Friday night, as the Panthers fell in overtime to the Miners, 40-32.
Juda led 8-6 after the first quarter, and took a 15-14 lead into the half. Juda battled foul trouble in the fourth, and fell behind before coming back to force overtime. Shullsburg won the extra period 13-5.
"We had some foul trouble. (Cole) Bauman and (Matt) Trotter both fouled out. We were losing by five or six at that time and we had some other kids step up and carry us into OT," Juda coach Mike Armitage said.
Senior Kade Allen led the Panthers with 18 points.
"He stepped up late in the game," Armitage said of Allen. "He had seven in the fourth and three of our five in overtime."
Juda (4-12, 2-6) will be back to full strength next Thursday after losing some players to suspension, and Armitage is hopeful that that will translate to more offensive production for the Panthers.
"We will be back to full strength against Albany," Armitage said. "I don't think we're taking bad shots. With Cole Bauman in foul trouble tonight he didn't get as many shots as he normally would. Cole's been getting 30 or more minutes a game, tonight he played maybe 20.
"With (Cody) Suiter back in the mix we can have three or four players out there that are pretty darn good. We start a new season now. We'll be on game 17 and be starting a new season."
Pecatonica 55, Belmont 52
BLANCHARDVILLE - Belmont sunk several 3-pointers in the fourth quarter but literally came up short by one, as Pecatonica held off the Braves Friday night.
After trailing 18-14 after the first quarter, Pecatonica coach Matt Fink made a defensive switch in the second quarter that allowed the Vikings to erase the deficit and take a lead at halftime.
"We went to a man-to-man," Fink said. "I think that stifled them a bit."
Offensively, the Vikings were led by senior Dillon Conwell who scored 25 points.
"We thought we had a mismatch with Dillon, so we went with him a lot," Fink said. "His scoring average has been consistently going up. From the halfway point, he's really turned it up."
Fink said some of Conwell's success in the post is thanks to fellow senior Jon Hendrickson drawing the other team's top post player.
"You kind of got to credit Jon with that," Fink said. "(They) have done a nice job together knowing who has the mismatch ... and it's starting to show."
In addition to Conwell, sophomore Drew Schliem chipped in 11 points to go along with four rebounds and four assists, and freshman Brooks Chandler had nine points.
The Vikings pushed their lead to 11 in third, but the Braves were insistent on keeping it close.
Belmont hit four 3-pointers in the fourth quarter, and Fink admitted that kind of late hot streak from outside makes a coach nervous.
"It does," he said. "It seems like those balls are up in the air for a long time."
The Braves got another look from outside, at the buzzer, but the shot missed off the front of the rim.
The Vikings (4-10, 0-8 Six River East) will host Albany on Monday, in a snow makeup game. It will be their first time playing the Comets this year.
"I know Albany's going to want to dictate the things we do," Fink said. "We just gotta do what we do."
Argyle 43, Highland 32
ARGYLE - Argyle held off Highland's fourth quarter rally, after building a 23-point after the third quarter.
While the Orioles' lead was large enough to survive the comeback, Argyle head coach Michael Cassidy said he would like to see his team close games out better in the future.
"Was it scary, no. But if there were three more minutes, it' might've been," he said. "You gotta close those things out a little better, and we'll learn from that."
Going in to the final quarter, the Orioles were up 37-14, thanks in large part to freshman Riley Ostby and junior Christopher Severson. Ostby led the team with 18 points, while Severson added 10.
"They both did well," Cassidy said. "We ran our offense very efficiently."
The game was Argyle's second straight in a stretch of four without senior Alec Treuthardt, forcing Cassidy to start two freshmen and one sophomore Friday night.
"Younger kids are getting more opportunities, and they're playing well with it," Cassidy said.
The Orioles will take on Madison Abundundant Life on Monday, and Cassidy said the focus will be on freshman Spencer Wright, who is averaging over 20 points per game.
"They score, they shoot well and they throw a lot of different defenses at you," Cassidy said.
New Glarus 63, Belleville 52
NEW GLARUS - The New Glarus boys basketball team lost to Capitol South rival Belleville Friday night, 63-52.
New Glarus fell behind early, trailing 12-5 after the first quarter, and the Glarner Knights trailed 28-20 at halftime.
"We struggled agasint their zone in the first quarter," said New Glarus coach Travis Sysko. "We were pretty decent in the first half from the line. We were 10 of 14 from the line in the second quarter.
Gabe Noyce led New Glarus with 23 points, 20 of which came in the second half. Landon Zimmerman also scored 10 for the Glarner Knights.
New Glarus fell to 4-13 overall and 2-4 in conference. Sysko said his team has been playing hard, they just need to catch a few breaks.
"We just need to keep playing hard like we have been," he said. "We just need the ball to bounce our way a few times, and play a little bit better."
Monticello led most of the game, but Potosi's Mitch Langkamp scored with 20 seconds left to tie the game at 50 and set up May's heroics.
"We didn't put enough of a body on Langkamp and he got to the basket," Monticello coach Mark Olson said. "We got it in-bounds and saw they were scrambling a little bit on D, so instead of calling a timeout we decided to just play it out. We gave it to Ben and he drove to the basket and made a reverse layup."
Langkamp was Potosi's leading scorer with 19 points. May scored 20 points to lead the Ponies. Bryce Klitzke added 16 for Monticello, and Lucas Marty also broke into double figures with 10 points.
"Early, Bryce was able to get to the rim. He broke the D down a little. They ran a zone and he found some lanes in it," Olson said. "Ben found a way to score throughout the game and of course he had the big basket."
Monticello (15-2, 6-2 in the Six Rivers East) now begins to prepare for a big game with conference-leading Black Hawk next Thursday. The Ponies knocked off the Warriors 67-59 back on Dec. 11. Olson said that Potosi was a good test going into that game because Black Hawk and Potosi are similar teams.
"From Tuesday to tonight, we had some things we wanted to get better at. We did a better job tonight, but there are still some things we want to get better at," Olson said. "Potosi and Black Hawk are similar teams. They're both fairly talented teams. We can learn a little from ourselves tonight."
ALBANY 54, BENTON 44
ALBANY - Isaiah Shell scored 26 points to lead the Albany boys basketball team to a 54-44 win over Benton.
Albany's offense was on fire from the get-go, as the Comets put up 22 in the first quarter and 18 in the second to take a 40-25 lead into halftime.
"We didn't miss too many shots and we made a ton of shots, which was big to get the momentum early on your home floor," said Albany coach Derik Doescher.
The Zephyrs slowed things down in the second half, and outscored the Comets 19-14 in the final two quarters, but it wasn't enough to complete the comeback.
"We did enough late to get the win," Doescher said. "We talked about coming out in the third and putting them away. To Benton's credit, they slowed the game down in the second half. We got a lot of transition points in first half, but they played more half-court in the second half."
Shell scored 21 of his 26 in the first half.
"He had a big first half; 21 at halftime," Doescher said. "Another adjustment Benton made was they did a nice job on him in the second half. They really focused on him."
Albany (7-10, 2-5) kept the momentum from their upset victory over Monticello on Tuesday going, and Doescher is hopeful it can continue.
"Getting off to a good start is huge. We still gotta work on putting two halves together. We came out intense and ready to play ball," he said. "We played pretty good right off our win against Monticello. We're starting to play pretty good ball as we get closer to tournament time."
Black Hawk 60, River Ridge 41
SOUTH WAYNE - Black Hawk, ranked eighth in the Associated Press Division 5 state poll, won its ninth straight game knocking off River Ridge in the Six Rivers Challenge.
Black Hawk (13-1) trailed 14-7 at the end of the first quarter. However, the Warriors outscored the Timberwolves 15-6 in the second quarter to grab the lead. The Warriors took control of the game by outscoring the Timberwolves 26-9 in the third quarter.
Black Hawk junior Seth Butler scored a game-high 22 points and was 6 of 6 from the free throw line in the fourth quarter. Black Hawk senior Merik Meythaler added 13 points and sophomore Heath Butler chipped in eight. The Warriors had a big edge at the free throw line shooting 21 to the Timberwolves two. Black Hawk finished 16 of 21 from the charity stripe.
Shullsburg 40, Juda 32
JUDA - The Juda boys basketball team was unable to stave off Shullsburg Friday night, as the Panthers fell in overtime to the Miners, 40-32.
Juda led 8-6 after the first quarter, and took a 15-14 lead into the half. Juda battled foul trouble in the fourth, and fell behind before coming back to force overtime. Shullsburg won the extra period 13-5.
"We had some foul trouble. (Cole) Bauman and (Matt) Trotter both fouled out. We were losing by five or six at that time and we had some other kids step up and carry us into OT," Juda coach Mike Armitage said.
Senior Kade Allen led the Panthers with 18 points.
"He stepped up late in the game," Armitage said of Allen. "He had seven in the fourth and three of our five in overtime."
Juda (4-12, 2-6) will be back to full strength next Thursday after losing some players to suspension, and Armitage is hopeful that that will translate to more offensive production for the Panthers.
"We will be back to full strength against Albany," Armitage said. "I don't think we're taking bad shots. With Cole Bauman in foul trouble tonight he didn't get as many shots as he normally would. Cole's been getting 30 or more minutes a game, tonight he played maybe 20.
"With (Cody) Suiter back in the mix we can have three or four players out there that are pretty darn good. We start a new season now. We'll be on game 17 and be starting a new season."
Pecatonica 55, Belmont 52
BLANCHARDVILLE - Belmont sunk several 3-pointers in the fourth quarter but literally came up short by one, as Pecatonica held off the Braves Friday night.
After trailing 18-14 after the first quarter, Pecatonica coach Matt Fink made a defensive switch in the second quarter that allowed the Vikings to erase the deficit and take a lead at halftime.
"We went to a man-to-man," Fink said. "I think that stifled them a bit."
Offensively, the Vikings were led by senior Dillon Conwell who scored 25 points.
"We thought we had a mismatch with Dillon, so we went with him a lot," Fink said. "His scoring average has been consistently going up. From the halfway point, he's really turned it up."
Fink said some of Conwell's success in the post is thanks to fellow senior Jon Hendrickson drawing the other team's top post player.
"You kind of got to credit Jon with that," Fink said. "(They) have done a nice job together knowing who has the mismatch ... and it's starting to show."
In addition to Conwell, sophomore Drew Schliem chipped in 11 points to go along with four rebounds and four assists, and freshman Brooks Chandler had nine points.
The Vikings pushed their lead to 11 in third, but the Braves were insistent on keeping it close.
Belmont hit four 3-pointers in the fourth quarter, and Fink admitted that kind of late hot streak from outside makes a coach nervous.
"It does," he said. "It seems like those balls are up in the air for a long time."
The Braves got another look from outside, at the buzzer, but the shot missed off the front of the rim.
The Vikings (4-10, 0-8 Six River East) will host Albany on Monday, in a snow makeup game. It will be their first time playing the Comets this year.
"I know Albany's going to want to dictate the things we do," Fink said. "We just gotta do what we do."
Argyle 43, Highland 32
ARGYLE - Argyle held off Highland's fourth quarter rally, after building a 23-point after the third quarter.
While the Orioles' lead was large enough to survive the comeback, Argyle head coach Michael Cassidy said he would like to see his team close games out better in the future.
"Was it scary, no. But if there were three more minutes, it' might've been," he said. "You gotta close those things out a little better, and we'll learn from that."
Going in to the final quarter, the Orioles were up 37-14, thanks in large part to freshman Riley Ostby and junior Christopher Severson. Ostby led the team with 18 points, while Severson added 10.
"They both did well," Cassidy said. "We ran our offense very efficiently."
The game was Argyle's second straight in a stretch of four without senior Alec Treuthardt, forcing Cassidy to start two freshmen and one sophomore Friday night.
"Younger kids are getting more opportunities, and they're playing well with it," Cassidy said.
The Orioles will take on Madison Abundundant Life on Monday, and Cassidy said the focus will be on freshman Spencer Wright, who is averaging over 20 points per game.
"They score, they shoot well and they throw a lot of different defenses at you," Cassidy said.
New Glarus 63, Belleville 52
NEW GLARUS - The New Glarus boys basketball team lost to Capitol South rival Belleville Friday night, 63-52.
New Glarus fell behind early, trailing 12-5 after the first quarter, and the Glarner Knights trailed 28-20 at halftime.
"We struggled agasint their zone in the first quarter," said New Glarus coach Travis Sysko. "We were pretty decent in the first half from the line. We were 10 of 14 from the line in the second quarter.
Gabe Noyce led New Glarus with 23 points, 20 of which came in the second half. Landon Zimmerman also scored 10 for the Glarner Knights.
New Glarus fell to 4-13 overall and 2-4 in conference. Sysko said his team has been playing hard, they just need to catch a few breaks.
"We just need to keep playing hard like we have been," he said. "We just need the ball to bounce our way a few times, and play a little bit better."
