This one was never close.
The Montezuma Braves started fast and dictated tempo in a 64-28 win over Sigourney on the final pre-Christmas game of their season at home Thursday evening, Dec. 19.
The 6-0 Braves led 18-2 after one quarter, 38-11 at halftime and 54-16 through three, inducing a continuous clock.
“I was really pleased with how the boys played,” said Braves Coach Derrick Dengler.
“Our defense was really solid, we got out in transition, and we were efficient in our half-court offense,” the coach said.
The Braves’ performance was balanced. They didn’t put up huge numbers, but did in one important category: Shooting percentage.
They were at .583 from the field for the game.
Also, they held the Savages to single digit scoring in each of the first three quarters.
Trey Sheaer led scoring with 16 points and did it on 8-for-10 shooting. He added seven assists, a couple steals, two deflections, and three rebounds.
Eddie Burgess scored 15 on seven-for-nine from the field. He made it a double-double with 13 rebounds.
Cole Watts scored 12 points. Has four-for-10, but went two-for-two from behind the three-point arc.
The Braves held Sigourney to .261 shooting from the field.
“Our focus coming in was to be a little sharper on defense than we were against BGM and boys really responded,” Dengler said.
“Against BGM, we struggled some. We gambled maybe too much. Tonight we just were really solid and held them to single digit scoring in three quarters,” the coach said.
Sigourney is 4-3, after having one its first four games.
“We’re excited about going back to work with them after the break. We’ve got to work with them to keep improving,” Dengler said.
UP NEXT – The Braves take on Tri-County on Tuesday, Jan. 7, in Thornburg.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Sigourney 2 9 5 12 – 28
Montezuma 18 20 16 10 – 64
MONTEZUMA (64): Brydon Henning 0-1, 0-0, 0, 0. Brayden Arendt 4-4, 1-1, 0, 9. Masin Shearer 3-7, 0-0, 1, 7. Connor Van Zee 0-1, 0-0, 0, 0. Cole Watts 4-10, 2-2, 1, 12. Joey Kercheval 1-2, 0-0, 0, 3. Maguire DeJong 1-1, 0-0, 0, 2. Trey Shearer 8-10, 0-0, 0, 16. Colton Benson 0-0, 0-0, 0, 0. Owen Cook 0-1, 0-0, 1, 0. Gavin Strong 0-2, 0-0, 0, 0. Eddie Burgess 7-9, 1-1, 1, 15. Brody Chidester 0-0, 0-0, 0, 0. TOTALS – 28-48, 3-3, 4, 64.
SIGOURNEY (28)
TOTALS – 12-46, 2-6, 3, 28.
Line score legend: Field goals made-attempted, free throws made-attempted, personal fouls, total points.
Turnovers: Montezuma 6, Sigourney 13.
Rebounds: Montezuma 25 (Burgess 13, T. Sheaer 3); Sigourney 27.
Three-point goals: Montezuma 5-15 (Watts 2, Arendt 1, M. Shearer 1, Kercheval 1); Sigourney 2-18.
Montezuma assists leaders: T. Shearer 7, Watts 2.
Montezuma steals leaders: Arendt 2, T. Shearer 2.
Montezuma deflections leaders: Arendt 4, T. Shearer 2, Cook 2.
Montezuma blocks: Watts 1, T. Shearer 1.
