Home rout, road victory start season for Panthers

   One game was a lopsided win; the other was a gritty road victory.

   The first two games of the Monticello boys basketball season produced a 2-0 record for the Panthers.

   Monticello defeated Tipton 67-33 at home Nov. 28, then outlasted West Branch 68-61 in West Branch Dec. 1.

   The game against Tipton was settled pretty early. The visiting Tigers scored on an early three-point basket, but Monticello ran off 19 straight after that, and by halftime led 32-10.

   “It was a good first game considering we haven’t practiced a ton together, and we didn’t scrimmage because the football guys got done so late,” Monticello coach Tim Lambert said.

   “I thought through all the sloppiness and first game jitters and all that, we played hard.”

   Preston Ries tipped off his senior season with a double-double of 19 points and 14 rebounds. Carson Lambert scored 18 points, all in the second half. Conley Schauf and Peyton Schilling scored nine points each.

   Monticello then faced a tough early foe Friday at West Branch, scored a 68-61 victory.

   It was a battle of two star players; Ries had 32 points and 11 rebounds for the Panthers, while West Branch’s Holden Arnaman scored 29 points and had eight rebounds.

   “It was good for us, our first road game, against a good team, with an all-state caliber player,” coach Lambert said.

   The Panthers battled from behind on a number of occasions Friday, and ran into some foul trouble in the first quarter.

   “It was good to face adversity early, and then have to figure it out and get through it,” the coach said.

   “We had some foul trouble, we got behind, and had to figure out how to have enough composure to come back.”

   Schauf finished with 13 points, three assists and three steals. Jack Lambert added 12 points, and made three steals. Carson Lambert had three steals; Schilling and Brady Gogel had four assists apiece.

   Coach Lambert said this season has a considerably different look now that all-state point guard Tate Petersen has graduated.

   “Tate was our point guard for four years,” he said. “So the roles of everyone are so different, and we’ve got to figure that out. We haven’t completely figured it out yet, but we will.

   “Games like that in the past, if we up by five or six in the fourth quarter, he’d have the ball in his hands the whole time. It’s a big adjustment.

   “So I was really proud of them. It was a good road win, against a good team.”

Nov. 28

Tipton   5   5  10   13 – 33

Monti  19  13  18  17 – 67

     MONTICELLO (67) – Conley Schauf 4-9 1-2 9, Brady Gogel 2-6 0-0 4, Jack Lambert 2-4 1-2 6, Carson Lambert 7-10 2-2 18, Preston Ries 8-18 2-2 19, Peyton Schilling 4-5 0-0 9, Lincoln Schneiter 1-2 0-0 2, Brennan Bohlken 0-1 0-0 0, Alex Jamison 0-1 0-0 0, Lucas Foust 0-1 0-0 0, Dalton Holub 0-0 0-0 0, Jordan Snow 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 28-58 6-8 67.

     Three-pointers – C. Lambert 2, J. Lambert 1, Ries 1, Schilling 1.

     Rebounds – Monticello 40 (Ries 14, C. Lambert 6), Tipton 18.

     Assists – Monticello 18 (Schilling 5, Gogel 4, J. Lambert 4), Tipton 6.

     Steals – Monticello 17 (Schauf 5, Schilling 5), Tipton 7.

     Blocks – Tipton 3, Monticello 0. 

     Total fouls – Monticello 10, Tipton 8.

     Turnovers – Tipton 21, Monticello 15.

Dec. 1

Monti     20 19 11 18 – 68

WB         17 16 14 14 – 61

     MONTICELLO (68) – Conley Schauf 5-10 0-0 13, Brady Gogel 0-2 0-0 0, Jack Lambert 4-5 3-4 12, Carson Lambert 2-6 1-2 5, Preston Ries 13-26 2-3 32, Peyton Schilling 1-4 2-4 4, Alex Jamison 1-1 0-0 2, Lincoln Schneiter 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 26-54 8-13 68.

     Three-pointers – Ries 4, Schauf 3, J. Lambert 1.

     Rebounds – West Branch 24, Monticello 23 (Ries 11).

     Assists – Monticello 14 (Gogel 4, Schilling 4, Schauf 3), West Branch 9.

     Steals – Monticello 12 (Schauf 3, J. Lambert 3, C. Lambert 3), West Branch 3.

     Blocks – Monticello 1 (Schauf 1), West Branch 1.

     Total fouls – West Branch 18, Monticello 17.

     Turnovers – West Branch 9, Monticello 6.