It took Monticello coach Kevin Roy three minutes to scold his team for a lack of energy. “They want it more than you,” he yelled.
Twenty-nine minutes later, the Sages walked off the court with a 70-66 win against second-seeded Meridian and a spot in the Okaw Valley Conference tournament semifinals.
“Before the game we talked about how the game would go through swings and we needed to come out ready to play,” Roy said. “We didn’t do that, and (Meridian) came out with a lot of energy. They took it right to us. I had to take two timeouts early to get our guys centered. Our guys maintained their composure. They fought hard all the way through.”
The message got through.
After falling behind by as much as 12 in the first quarter, the Sages spent the majority of the game playing catch up until the fourth, where they outscored the Hawks 25-17.
In the final five minutes, Monticello strung together a 20-12 run, including 18 points from the combination of Nick Stokowski and Daly O’Brien.
A jumper by O’Brien with two minutes remaining in the fourth kicked off a rapid back-and-forth scoring battle that included five lead changes in a minute.
The run capped a stellar second half for the Sages, who shot 14 of 19 from the field and scored 42 points, including 18 from Stokowski.
“It’s just maintaining composure and chipping away a possession at a time,” said Roy. “It came down to getting defensive stops and we needed to be more patient on offense. We had to rebound too. It was a physical game. Four guys really stepped up offensively, but it was a team effort on the defensive end.”
Free throws ended up the decisive factor with the Sages connecting on 9 of 11 in the fourth quarter, compared to just 2 of 6 by the Hawks, who missed the front end on three one-and-ones.  
“We had a lot of close games early on and we struggled with the confidence to nail down wins at the end,” said Roy. “Ever since we hit this stride in January we’ve just continued to build confidence. It’s ironic, because we’ve had a lot of setbacks with injuries. The guys just keep stepping up and keep getting better.”
Stokowoski finished with a team-high 21 points and 10 rebounds, and  O’Brien added 17 points.
Senior Kendall King scored 15 and junior Ryan Donohue had 14 points and four rebounds.
On Friday,  Monticello completed a week sweep of Argenta-Oreana in the opening round of the OVC tournament.
Just three days removed from a ten point win over the Bombers on Tuesday, the Sages rolled through the rematch, 56-42.
“We prepared for different things, but it was pretty much the same type of game,” said Roy. “We made our defensive adjustments and played more full court pressure. I think that helped us out. We got a few easy baskets early and it helped our offense.”
The Sages started like gangbusters opening with an 11-0 run and carrying 30-18 lead into the break.
Monticello scored 24 of those points in the paint and shot 52 percent from the field, while getting a combined 23 points from the front court trio of Matt Kruse, King and Stokowski.
“We have to establish ourselves in the paint,” said Roy. “We know teams are going to key on Matt, so we talk about match ups. Kendall and Nick can both play inside and outside. Ryan (Donohue) can do that for us too, so we feel like we have a lot of different options. It’s just a matter of being educated players and recognizing mismatches.”
In the second half, the Sages continued to roll taking a 20 point lead at the end of the third and leading by as much as 26 in the fourth.
The Bombers shot just 34 percent on the night and were held to just 3 of 15 from the three-point arc.
Monticello also won the rebounding category with a 40-29 advantage, including 16 on the offensive glass.
"We felt like we sat back a little too much last time and they got some good looks,” said Roy. “We wanted to extend our pressure full court and make them handle the ball for the full 84-feet. We didn’t want them to get any good looks at the basket from the three point line, because once they get hot they can put a lot of points up in a hurry.”
Stokowoski was the game’s leading scorer with 18 points and 10 rebounds and Kruse added 11 points and seven boards.
King also added nine points and five rebounds.
Keegan McHood led Argenta with 10 points and six rebounds.
On Tuesday, the Sages beat Argenta, 69-59, in regular season play.
Stokowoski posed a career high 35 points, tying for 18th in the school record book for points in a game. He also grabbed nine rebounds.
King also scored a career high 17 points to go with seven rebounds and four assists, and O’Brien added seven points.
The win bumped Monticello’s OVC record to 5-2. They finished the week at 10-9 overall.