NEW SHARON – North Mahaska built an eight-point halftime lead and held it there the rest of the way for a 38-30 win in boys junior varsity basketball on Monday, Jan. 28.
“Another tough loss,” said Braves Coach Cal Smith. “We competed the whole night, but came up short again.”
North Mahaska led 7-6 after one quarter, 21-13 at halftime and 31-18 after three periods.
Cameron Johnson scored 13 points for Montezuma and had three rebounds and three deflections.
Gavin Strong scored six points, had five steals and three rebounds.
Colton Benson came down with three rebounds for the Braves.
Montezuma lost the board battle 39-21 to the Warhawks, and shot just .244 from the field.
“Defensively, I thought we had our best performance all season,” Smith said. “We still need to work on moving our feet on defense and not reaching. When you reach, there’s a chance of missing the ball, which will put the next defender in a bad spot,” the coach said.
“Offensively, we need to work on spacing and cutting through after we make a pass, so that the defender follows and gaps open up,” Smith said.
“These are small things I know we can get better at,” he added.
