Every Monticello 3-pointer landed like a dagger. At the end of the Class 2A district semifinal, the Lions lay bleeding on the court.

Et tu, Brute?

The Panthers sunk 13 3-pointers, including eight from junior Conley Schauf, got out to a big lead and sunk the Lions, 74-60, on Thursday, Feb. 20, in Monticello.

“They came out and shot the lights out,” Lisbon senior Grayson Wollum said. “It is hard when you have a hand in their face and they are shooting that well. We couldn’t get anything going on offense, either.”

The first quarter was miserable for Lisbon as they fell behind 16-2.

“It seemed like they had six guys on the floor the way they rotated and doubled and recovered out of double teams,” Lisbon Coach Levi Montague said. “It was hard for us to get good looks.”

Schauf opened the game with a 4-point play (a 3-pointer and made free throw), then the Panthers hit five more 3-pointers to build their lead to 19-2.

“Getting down 2 to 16 in the first quarter is not the start you want,” Montague said. “Especially against a good team.”

Lisbon trailed at half, 33-19, but started to look more like themselves to start the second half when Wollum found a cutting Daylin Schaefer on the weak side for a rim-rattling dunk.

But Monticello had a counterpunch for every Lisbon rally, and led 55-36 going into the final quarter.

The Lions went on a 17-6 run to cut the lead to single-digits, 68-57, in part thanks to three 3-pointers from Wollum. But time was running out, and the Panthers hit 12-of-14 at the foul line in the final quarter.

“Our guys haven’t given up in a game,” Montague said. “They continue to fight. I’m proud of the way they continued to fight.

“But we dug too big of a hole early to make too big of a difference.”

Schauf finished with season-high 43 points for the Panthers. He was 8 of 11 from the arc. The Panthers were 13 of 23 as a team.

“They definitely did not miss much tonight,” Montague said.

Wollum finished with a season-best 36 points, including 16 in the fourth quarter. Earlier in the week, Wollum crossed the 1,000-point mark for his career. He said is still undecided on where he plans to play in college.

Jackson Powers had 12 points and Schaefer added eight.

Lisbon finished the season 16-7.

“I think we came together as a group,” Wollum said. “It was our first year in 2A. In 1A, we might’ve gone to state.”

Lisbon had a tough playoff road, even if they had beat the Panthers.

Monticello (18-4) advanced to play Northeast (17-5) on Tuesday, Feb. 25. The other half of the substate matched No. 7 Grundy Center (20-2) and Iowa City Regina (19-3).

To set up the game against the Panthers, on Monday, Feb. 17, the Lions opened the postseason with a 73-53 win over Camanche in the Lions’ Den.

Schaefer had 21 points, Powers had 17 points and eight rebounds, and Tyler Sauser added 15 points. Wollum had 12 points, seven rebounds and five assists.

Camanche (3-19) made 10 pointers but shot them at a 32.3 percent clip (10-31).