December 24, 2019 at 9:41 a.m.
Eagles stay close but can't get past Ponies
They battled the first half and trailed by six at halftime, 30-22. They outscored their opponent, Monticello, 32-30 the second half but the six points they didn't make up came back to haunt them as that was the difference in the 60-54 finale.
Seth Sullivan led the Eagles with 14 points before fouling out. Barneveld also got double figures from their big man, Jack Thompson, who put in 10.
But Reece Rufer totaled 21 for the Ponies with 12 of them the second half and Peter Gustafson added 18, nine the second half. Rudy Wicker came alive for the Ponies the final 18 minutes with all eight of his points.
"This was a tough loss for our guys," said coach Tyler Sullivan. "I felt like we played really hard the first half and executed pretty well offensively. We just slipped up a few times defensively and found ourselves down at halftime."
The Eagles continued to fight the final 18 minutes.
"We came out and battled the second half to tie it multiple times but we ran out of gas late and couldn't get the crucial stops," Sullivan added.
He noted the difference in free throws as one of the deciding factor.
"They shot 21 free throws compared to our eight so getting to the line has to be one of our top priorities," added Sullivan.
"But I was proud of our fight," he said. "We know we have work to do and we will do it."
SCORE BY HALVES
Monticello 30 30 60
Barneveld 22 32 54
BOX SCORE
MONTICELLO 60: (fg-ft-tp) Bidnowiak 2-3-8, Ace 1-0-2, Gustafson 6-6-18, Blum 0-0-0, Klitzke 1-0-3, Flanagan 0-0-0, Wicker 3-1-8, Femreite 0-0-0, Rufer 8-3-21. Totals 21-13/21-60 Fouls-13
BARNEVELD 54: Archie 3-1-7, Barsness 1-1-4, Thompson 5-0-10, Peterson 1-0-2, Hendrickson 0-0-0, Seth Sullivan 6-0-14, Ignatius 3-1-9, Spencer Sullivan 3-1-8, Arneson 0-0-0, Oimoen 0-0-0 Totals 22-3/8-54 Fouls-21 Fouled out-Seth Sullivan
3 point goals:
M-Rufer 2, Bidnowiak 1, Klitzke 1, Wicker
B-Seth Sullivan 2, Ignatius 2, Spencer Sullivan 2, Barsness 1
