ALBIA – Good teams find a way to win.
Which isn’t easy if the other team is good, too.
And if you didn’t see the 54-41 win by Montezuma’s boys over Albia Thursday night – either in person or by live stream – you missed a good one.
The Braves, trailing by eight points after one quarter, and by one after three, finally won this defensive battle of up-tempo teams by outscoring the Blue Demons 20-6 in the fourth quarter.
“I’m very proud of how we executed defensively,” said Braves Coach Derrick Dengler.
Albia’s long-armed defense was difficult for the Braves to throw over. But in the fourth quarter, Montezuma attacked the rim and looked every bit like the state tournament team they have been the last two seasons.
Trey Shearer and Cole Watts drove the ball in, and 6-4 Eddie Burgess was lurking in the lane.
Burgess scored 13 of his 17 points in the second half and his work on the defensive boards helped the Braves dictate the pace of the game. Burgess grabbed 15 rebounds, including a dozen off the defensive glass.
Trey Shearer scored 20 points, despite a tough shooting night from three-point range (1-for-6). But Trey grabbed eight rebounds and dished five assists.
Guard Masin Shearer scored nine huge points – all of them on a trio of three-pointers in the third quarter when the Blue Demons were threatening to take control. “When the younger Shearer started to second in the second half, it made it hard to defend as we had to stretch the defense,” Albia Coach Kevin Archer told The Ottumwa Courier.
Cole Watts scored seven points and his passing skills were on display in the second half, when he and Trey Shearer repeatedly got the ball inside to Burgess off short drives.Watts had three assists and pulled down eight rebounds.
Albia jumped out to a 16-6 early lead, but both teams already were having to manage foul problems. “We adjusted to foul calls,” Dengler said, a thought echoed by Archer. Blake Chance scored 11 points for Albia, Drew Chance had 10 and Brayden Messamaker scored eight.
The loss ended an 11-game winning streak for the Blue Demons, whose only previous defeat was to Grand View Christian in the season opener. Last year, the ‘Demons scored an overtime, 58-55 win over the Braves on a three-ball at the buzzer. Albia was one of just three teams to beat Montezuma last season.
The Braves took their overall mark this year out to 14-2 and won a game that should help them prepare for post-season play.
Albia was the 11th-ranking team in the Class 2A poll this week, but likely would be ranked higher than that if they were in Class 1A, where the Braves are the number seven team.
Montezuma entered the game with a 77-point scoring average. Albia came in at 69. Thus, both offenses needed to show some patience against a team determined to defense them.
The game was technically good, with Albia making just five turnovers to Montezuma’s eight.
JUNIOR VARSITY GAME – Albia 80, Montezuma 22.
UP NEXT – The Braves are at BGM on Friday night and host HLV on Saturday.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Montezuma 8 13 13 20 – 54
Albia 16 5 14 6 – 41
MONTEZUMA (54)
Cam Johnson 0-0, 1-2, 3, 1. Masin Shearer 3-8, 0-0, 2, 9. Cole Watts 3-7, 1-2, 3, 7. Trey Shearer 7-15, 5-6, 1, 20. Eddie Burgess 8-11, 1-1, 1, 17. Owen Cook 0-0, 0-0, 2, 0. Gavin Strong 0-2, 0-0, 1, 0. TOTALS – 21-43, 8-11, 13, 54.
Line score legend: Field goals made-attempted, free throws made-attempted, personal fouls, total points.
Turnovers: Albia 5, Montezuma 8.
Three-point goals: 4-16 (M. Shearer 3-7, T. Shearer 1-6, Strong 0-2, C. Watts 0-1).
Rebounds: 33 (Burgess 15, Watts 8, T. Shearer 8, Johnson 1, M. Shearer 1).
Assists: 9 (T. Shearer 5, Watts 3, Burgess 1).
Steals: 4 (Burgess 2, M. Shearer 1, T. Shearer 1).
Blocks: 3 (Burgess 2, T. Shearer 1).