Monticello boys grab share of region title in final week of the season

by David Boyle
News Director

The Monticello boys basketball team opened the week with senior night in Monticello against Monument Valley high school on Valentine’s Day.
The Buckaroos built a 16-7 lead after one quarter with Monument Valley narrowing the gap for a halftime score of 37-30. After three quarters the score favored Monticello 51-45, but the Buckaroos were able to pull away in the fourth quarter to win 70-53.
Monticello was led in scoring by Donovan Atwood who finished with 23 points. Fellow senior Easton Young scored 19 for the Buckaroos and Landon Ewart finished with 14. Tommy Sheeran scored six, JD McDonald five, and senior Sam Snyder scored three for Monticello.
The Cougars were led in scoring by Braxton Goodshield who finished with 20 points. Doreon Chee scored 11 for Monument Valley while Keshawn Atene scored eight, Joshua Hicks and Melias Cly scored six, and Tobias Grey scored two.
On Friday, February 17 Monticello made the trip to Price to take on the Pinnacle Panthers with a Region 23 title on the line. A win for the Buckaroos would mean an outright championship. A loss would mean sharing the title with Pinnacle. The Panthers earned a 50-38 victory, resulting in a tie.
Monticello did have a 10-8 through one quarter and extended it to 19-16 at halftime. But the Panthers won the second half, battling back to lead 32-27 after three quarters on the way to the 50-38 final.
Monticello was led in scoring by Young who scored 12 points in the game. Curtis Bunker, Landon Ewart, and Donovan Atwood each had seven points in the contest with JD McDonald scoring three and Mikhael Sheen scoring one for the Buckaroos. 
In addition to winning a share of the region title Monticello earned the #11 seed in the state tournament and will host the #22 Telos Titans in a play-in game this Saturday, February 25. Catch the game on Redrock 92 with video at pictureitpalmer.com. Tip time is TBD.
MHS finished the season with a 10-9 record. If they win their play-in game they’ll take on #6 Valley in the second round of the tourney in Richfield on March 1 at 8:30 p.m. All the Richfield games will be broadcast on Redrock 92.7 FM