MONTICELLO -— Monticello hosted Goshen on Thursday evening for their final regular season home game. Monticello opened the night with their senior recognition ceremony before defending ‘The Pit’ one final time before Sectionals. Defense set the stage as the Panthers cruised to an easy 49-25 victory.

Through the first three minutes, Monticello had quickly amassed an 8-0 lead, despite Goshen’s defense consistently challenging Monticello’s shots.

The shutout continued until nearly the end of the first quarter when Goshen was able to draw a foul and sink one of two from the line to score their first point.

By the end of the first round of this four-round battle, Monticello held a 10-1 edge over their opponents.

The Panthers’ defense continued to lock down the Gladiators, who for years had been a nearly-insurmountable opponent across the division, losing just five games in two years.

While the Panthers continued to build their lead, they held Goshen to just two second quarter points and the teams entered the break with Monticello leading 23-3 over their opponents.

“The guys defended as best as they have all season,” Monticello Coach Chris Russo said. “We’re pretty athletic and unique. Long, strong and quick.”

After the break, Goshen was finally able to get some offense started in the third quarter, but Monticello matched and exceeded their efforts, outscoring the Gladiators 16-12 to extend their lead to 39-15.

The two teams battled in the fourth, with each team hitting the 10-point mark, but Monticello’s lead loomed and the Panthers were able to hold on for the 49-25 victory.

As has been the case through many of the games this year, Christian Brown led all scorers with a game-high 20 points. Judah Brown and Xavean Mitchell added nine and eight points respectively.

With the win, the Panthers finished the home portion of their schedule with an 8-1 record in ‘The Pit.’

“The Pit is a special place,” Russo said. “I’m so proud of the guys for how hard they’ve worked this year. We make challenging matchups for teams and we do a good job of scouting and playing to the scouting report.”

The Panthers went on to defeat the RedHawks on Friday night during the BCANY Coaches vs Cancer Classic and will close out their regular season on the road this week as they visited Cornwall last night and play at Valley Central on Thursday.