A Saturday doubleheader at the Sievers Center featured a pair of tightly contested non-conference matchups between Maroa-Forsyth and Monticello, with each team walking away with a win.
In the boys game, heard on WEZC and online at dewittdailynews.com, Maroa-Forsyth held off Monticello 49–43. Caebrin Lee and Coby Lane led the Trojans, as Lee scored nine of his points in the fourth quarter to help seal the victory, while Lane finished with 13 points, eight of which came in the first half. The two teams stayed within six points of each other for most of the contest.
Monticello was led by Matthias Rudolph, who scored 15 points, including nine in the opening quarter before being held quiet the rest of the way. Nolan Buehnerkemper added nine points and played strong defense on Lee throughout the game, earning State Bank of Bement Player of the Game honors. With the win, Maroa-Forsyth improved to 11–4, while Monticello fell to 10–4 and will host IVC on Tuesday night.
The girls contest saw Monticello rally past Maroa-Forsyth 48–43 behind a dominant fourth-quarter performance from Ali Weidner. Weidner poured in nine of her game-high 24 points in the final period as the Lady Sages erased a 30–26 deficit entering the fourth to pull out the win.
Maroa-Forsyth struggled offensively without Avery Braden, the program’s all-time leading scorer. Kali Kahler led the Lady Trojans with 19 points, scoring 11 in the first half but finding it difficult to get going late, while Rilinida Ballazhi added 10 points.
Monticello improved to 12–9 on the season and will travel to IVC on Tuesday night for an Illini Prairie Conference matchup. Maroa-Forsyth dropped to 11–6.
Written by Seth Laurence