The match-up of 15-2 Montezuma and 15-3 Belle Plaine offered the makings of a close game.
But Montezuma’s defense took care of that early on. The Braves added plenty of offense and took care of Belle Plaine, 79-41, in a makeup game on Thursday, Feb. 6.
With the victory came clinching no worse than a tie for the SICL championship, and the chance to finish things tonight (Friday, Feb. 7) at Lynnville-Sully.
Montezuma led 22-8 after one quarter and 47-21 by halftime.
“I was proud of our defense, especially early,” said Braves Coach Derrick Dengler. “Belle Plaine has been clicking lately.”
“We held some of their scoring leaders under their averages,” Dengler said.
Luke DeMeulenaere, Ben DeMeulenaere and Jackson Tegeler came in averaging a combined 40 points. Together, they produced 22 in this one, with their leading scorer held to 10 points, seven under his average.
“Our defense set the tone,” Dengler said.
Then, Montezuma’s offense rang the bell.
“We made some tough jump shots and some long threes,” Dengler said.
Trey Shearer led with 30 points, on 11-for-17 shooting from the field. He also was six-for-six from the line.
Trey had four assists, a couple of steals and a pair of deflections as well.
The Braves were passing, as they assisted 19 of their 26 made baskets.
The Braves had four double figures scorers in all. Cole Watts had 17 points, on five-for-ten shooting, including four treys. He led the team with six assists and had eight rebounds.
Masin Shearer scored 13 points and dropped in a trio of treys.
Eddie Burgess had yet another double-double with 12 points and 14 rebounds.
“I was very excited to watch us play tonight,” Dengler said. “We played for each other. Our body language was better. We played through some tough calls.”
“We were mentally tough and able to show off some of the tremendous talent that we have,” Dengler said.
The Braves extended their lead out fo 67-35 after three quarters.
Montezuma shot .491 from the field and limited the Plainesmen to .300 field goal shooting. The Braves also were 15-for-18 from the free throw line.
Montezuma also was a very tough 11-for-25 from three point range.
UP NEXT – Montezuma closes SICL play Friday, feb. 7, at Lynnville-Sully.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Belle Plaine 8 13 14 6 – 41
Montezuma 22 25 20 11 – 79
MONTEZUMA (79) – Brydon Henning 0-0, 0-0, 0, 0. Brayden Arendt 2-4, 0-0, 1, 6. Masin Shearer 4-12, 2-2, 3, 13. Connor Van Zee 0-0, 0-0, 0, 0. Cole Watts 5-10 3-4, 3, 17. Joey Kercheval 0-0, 0-0, 2, 0. Maguire DeJong 0-0, 0-0, 0, 0. Trey Shearer 11-17 6-6, 3, 30. Colton Benson 0-0, 0-0, 1, 0. Owen Cook 0-1, 0-0, 0, 0. Gavin Strong 0-1, 0-0, 0, 0. Eddie Burgess 4-8, 4-6, 1, 12. Brody Chidester 0-0, 0-0, 1, 0. TOTALS – 26-53, 15-18, 13, 79.
BELLE PLAINE (41)
TOTALS – 15-50, 5-8, 17, 41.
Line score legend: Field goals made-attempted, free throws made-attemped, personal fouls, total points.
Turnovers: Montezuma 11, Belle Plaine 19.
Three-point goals: Montezuma 11-25 (Watts 4, M. Shearer 3, Arendt 2, T. Shearer 2); Belle Plaine 3-19.
Rebounds: Montezuma 32 (Burgess 14, Watts 8, Arendt 2, M. Shearer 2, Henning 1, Kercheval 1, Cook 1, Strong 1, team 2); Belle Plaine 33.
Assists: Watts 6, Burgess 5, M. Shearer 4, T. Shearer 4.
Steals: Burgess 3, Watts 3, Arendt 3, M. Shearer 2, T. Shearer 2.
Deflections: M. Shearer 2, Watts 2, T. Shearer 2, Burgess 1.
Blocks: Burgess 2.