Five Takeaways: Monticello Advances to Substate Final

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>MARION -- Monticello is hitting their stride at the right time, using a dominant defensive effort to knock off Alburnett 57-51, advancing to Saturday night's substate championship game against Aplington-Parkersburg. Below are five takeaways from Monticello's win as well as the future of Alburnett.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:table --> <figure class="wp-block-table"><table><tbody><tr><td>Team</td><td>1Q</td><td>2Q</td><td>3Q</td><td>4Q</td><td>Final</td></tr><tr><td>Monticello</td><td>20</td><td>9</td><td>16</td><td>12</td><td>57</td></tr><tr><td>Alburnett</td><td>15</td><td>11</td><td>13</td><td>12</td><td>51</td></tr></tbody></table></figure> <!-- /wp:table --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Monticello: </strong>[player_tooltip player_id='956879' first='Tate' last='Petersen'] 28, [player_tooltip player_id='1171677' first='Preston' last='Ries'] 13, [player_tooltip player_id='1759903' first='Carson' last='Lambert'] 12, Jack Lambert 4<br><strong>Alburnett: </strong>Mason Neighbor 15, [player_tooltip player_id='1751109' first='Braydon' last='Osborn'] 9, [player_tooltip player_id='1751108' first='Jordan' last='Caton'] 7, Payton Baker 7, [player_tooltip player_id='1469785' first='Tytan' last='Bowers'] 6, Adam Neighbor 5, Grayson Carolan 2</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='956879' first='Tate' last='Petersen'], still excellent</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Petersen has been battling a right shoulder injury for the entire post-holiday break portion of the schedule, and while he isn't playing at 100%, he's still a dominant offensive player as both a scorer and facilitator for the Panthers. His ability to utilize headfakes while keeping his dribble keeps the defense off balance, and he's as pure a shooter as you'll find in the state. If he's given an inch of space, he's going to burn you from deep. There were a few occasions in which he picked up his dribble a few feet behind the 3-point line, which would be the end of the possession for some. But he was still able to use tiny movements to free up a tiny bit of space and bury 3s in the face of the defender. He finished with 28 points on 10-20 shooting (4-10 3P, 4-5 FT) to go with 3 assists. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Jack Lambert's outstanding defensive effort</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Sophomore guard Jack Lambert (pictured) didn't make a major impact in the box score, finishing with 4 points and a few rebounds, but his effort on the defensive end was game-changing. The sophomore son of Monticello head coach Tim Lambert, Jack played incredible defense against Alburnett star guard [player_tooltip player_id='1751108' first='Jordan' last='Caton'], holding him to 7 points on 3-6 shooting, half of his season average. Caton is the one who generally initiates Alburnett's offense, and Lambert's work face-guarding him for a majority of the night completely took the Pirates offense out of rhythm. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Monticello role players stepping up at the right time</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The aforementioned Lambert as well as [player_tooltip player_id='1759903' first='Carson' last='Lambert'] (12 points, 7 rebounds) were both excellent for the Panthers in the win. [player_tooltip player_id='1759903' first='Carson' last='Lambert'], a long, 6-3 lefty who can shoot it from deep, get to the bucket, and compete on the glass, knocked down some huge shots to keep the Panthers afloat early in the game and was outstanding on the glass throughout. Freshman wing [player_tooltip player_id='1765541' first='Conley' last='Schauf'] attempted one shot, and according to my book, didn't have a rebound or assist either. But the lanky wing played excellent defense and did exactly what was asked of him throughout the game. With Petersen and [player_tooltip player_id='1171677' first='Preston' last='Ries'] leading the way, the majority of the scoring is already taken care of for this group, they just need the role players to play their part and contribute in the other areas, and they're doing just that. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1171677' first='Preston' last='Ries'], freak athlete</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Ries didn't have his typical dominant scoring game, finishing with 13 points, and he struggled at times to finish around the rim, either putting too much on his shot or running into the length of [player_tooltip player_id='1469785' first='Tytan' last='Bowers'] in the paint. He was just 5-20 from the floor in the win, but his gravity on the offensive end opens up everything else for the Panthers. He's an explosive athlete (committed to Iowa to play football) who dominates on the glass on both ends of the floor, high-pointing the ball and exploding above the opposition to pull down rebounds out of nowhere. His athleticism and physicality allowed him to bully his way to the rim routinely, and he gets the defense to collapse. He had a really nice floor game, showing that he can pull down a defensive rebound and lead the break, finishing with 10 rebounds and 4 assists to go with his 13 points. And if a few of those bunnies that just rolled off had dropped, he would've been looking at a 20 and 10 game, like we've become accustomed to seeing. The impact that Ries has on the game and opposing game plan goes well beyond what he does in the box score. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>The future of Alburnett</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>It was a disappointing end to the season for the Pirates, but they had a remarkable year, going 20-4. They'll bring back their top two scorers in [player_tooltip player_id='1751109' first='Braydon' last='Osborn'] and [player_tooltip player_id='1751108' first='Jordan' last='Caton'], who combined to average 30.5 points a game this season. Both are high-level shooters and versatile three-level scorers who can take over games as shooters or playmakers. That will be an excellent place for Jeff Christopherson to start next season. Payton Baker, who averaged 4.2 points and 3.4 assists off the bench this season, also returns. He was really good on both ends of the floor in this loss, flashing playmaking and scoring chops. They'll be smaller with the loss of [player_tooltip player_id='1469785' first='Tytan' last='Bowers'] to graduation, and they'll certainly miss the Neighbor twins, Mason and Adam, who provided some toughness, rebounding, and playmaking as well. But in Caton and Osborn, the Pirates will have one of the best backcourts in small-school basketball and they should be a real contender in either 1A or 2A, wherever they end up.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->