The varsity Braves put together an effective fourth quarter to score a come-from-behind, 74-71 win over Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont on Friday, Feb. 2, at home.
That Braves trailed 58-54 through three quarters, after having led 16-12 after one quarter and 40-32 at halftime.
“We played with great energy the entire game,” said Montezuma Coach Derrick Dengler.
EBF stood out in the third quarter when the Rockets outscored Montezuma 26-14 to take their four-point lead.
But the Braves reversed that with a 20-13 fourth period.
“We weathered the storm against their run and made some big shots in the fourth quarter,” Dengler said. ‘We made a couple of great passes to back door cutter and a ot a deep three-pointer from Brady Boulton.”
Both teams shot well. The Braves were at .500 from the field, to .446 by EBF.
Boulton poured in 35 points to lead Braves scorers. He was 14-for-24 from the field, and did most of his damage from inside the three-point arc in this game.
Garrett Watts scored 15, Kohen Holland had 12 and Max Anderson scored 8 points.
The Braves had to combat EBF’s size inside and did it will, with both Watts and Holland coming down with numerous offensive rebounds, a category Montezuma hasn’t always fared well in.
Boulton, probably the shortest player on the floor, led Montezuma in rebounds with 10. Holland had 7 and Watts pulled down 6.
The Braves assisted 14 of their 30 field goals, Watts and Boulton leading with 6 and 4, respectively.
The win lifted Montezuma to 13-6 overall.
The Rockets fell to 13-4.
UP NEXT – The Montezuma boys host Albia on Saturday, Feb. 3. The JV game starts at 4:30 p.m., with the varsity contest to follow.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
EBF 12 20 26 13 – 71
Montezuma 16 24 14 20 – 74
MONTEZUMA (74) – Dane Strong 1-1, 1-2, 0, 4. Garrett Watts 7-15, 0-1, 1, 15. David Rose 0-1, 0-0, 2, 0. Brady Boulton 14-24, 5-5, 3, 35. Kohen Holland 5-7, 1-2, 3, 12. Max Anderson 3-12, 0-0, 2, 8. Alex Black 0-0, 0-0, 0, 0. TOTALS – 30-60, 7-10, 11, 74.
EBF (71) – TOTALS – 29-65, 4-7, 13, 71.
Line score legend: field goals made-attempted, free throws made-attempted, personal fouls, total points.
Turnovers: Montezuma 6, EBF 12.
Three-pointers: Montezuma 7-23 (Anderson 2-8, Boulton 2-9, Strong 1-1, Watts 1-3, Holland 1-1, Rose 0-1. EBF 9-22.
Rebounds: Montezuma 27 (Boulton 10, Holland 7, Watts 6, Strong 2 Rose 1, Anderson 1); EBF 33.
Assists: Montezuma 14 (Watts 6, Boulton 4, Holland 2, Anderson 1).
Steals: Montezuma 6 (Holland 2, Strong 1, Rose 1, Anderson 1, Boulton 1).
Deflections: Montezuma 5 (Black 2, Watts 1, Holland 1, Anderson 1).
Blocks: Montezuma 2 (Holland, Anderson).