BROOKLYN – A suffocating Montezuma defense made the lane a “no fly zone” for the BGM offense.
Meanwhile, the Braves scored from near and far and ran out to a 73-35 win over the Bears on Friday evening, Jan. 29.
The win kept Montezuma (15-2 overall, 13-1 SICL) a game ahead in the boys’ league championship race.
The lane area looked to be more densely populated than the San Francisco metro when BGM had the basketball. The Bears weren’t as willing to shoot from outside as Montezuma and fell behind from the outset.
Montezuma’s Cam Johnson scored the game’s first six points – on a trey and a three-point play the traditional way – as Montezuma jumped out to a 25-7 lead after one quarter.
The Braves shot some blanks in the second quarter and added just two points to their lead, which was 36-16 at halftime.
But some full court pressure to start the third quarter helped the pace go up-tempo again. Montezuma went on a 9-2 run to open the second half, jumping their lead out to 45-18 at the 5:42 mark of the third quarter.
The Braves were gone, as they outscored BGM 37-19 in the second half to finish out the 38-point, mercy clock victory.
Montezuma outscored BGM 14 baskets to four from three-point range, giving the Bears a lot of ground to try and cover. Guard Trey Shearer dropped in six of those three-bombs and Cole Watts splashed down three more. The Braves shot 61 percent from the field – both on two-pointers and treys. That’s highly unusual – and devastating to an opponent.
Trey Shearer led scoring with 22 points and Cole Watts had 19.
Two other Braves – Johnson (9) and Eddie Burgess (8) were at the verge of double figures. Montezuma assisted 19 of its 28 field goals. There was balanced there, too, with Cole Watts and Burgess had four each, Masin and Trey Shearer having three each, and Cam Johnson coming up with two.
BGM shot .455 from the field, but was able to get off just 33 shots, 13 fewer than the Braves.
Montezuma beat BGM 56-35 at their first meeting in December. Thus, the Braves added 17 points to their margin of victory.
BGM is 2-14 overall and 2-11 against the league.
NO GAMES SATURDAY – That rescheduled quad at home against HLV on Saturday was postponed again by the winter storm. It has been re-set for Saturday, Feb. 6, in Montezuma.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Montezuma 25 11 24 13 – 73
BGM 7 9 9 10 – 35
MONTEZUMA (73)
Cam Johnson 3-5, 1-1, 2, 9. Masin Shearer 2-6, 0-0, 0, 5. Cole Watts 7-9, 2-2, 2, 19. Trey Shearer 8-10, 0-0, 1, 22. Eddie Burgess 4-7, 0-0, 0, 8. Garrett Watts 1-1, 0-0, 0, 2. Sawyer Tindle 0-0, 0-0, 0, 0. Maguire De Jong 0-0, 0-0, 0, 0. Colton Benson 0-0, 0-2, 0, 0. Owen Cook 1-1, 0-2, 2, 5. Jacob Ross 0-0, 0-0, 0, 0. Gavin Strong 2-5, 0-0, 2, 5. Joey Kercheval 0-1, 0-0, 1, 0. Camden Michalek 0-1, 0-0, 0, 0. Jack Erselius 0-0, 0-0, 0, 0. Ryan Cheney 0-0, 0-0, 0, 0. Landen Morrison 0-1, 0-0, 0, 0. TOTALS – 28-46, 3-7, 9, 73.
BGM (35)
TOTALS – 15-33, 1-5, 6, 35.
Line score legend: Field goals made-attempted, free throws made-attempted, personal fouls, total points.
Turnovers: BGM 24, Montezuma 11.
Three-point goals: BGM 4-13, Montezuma 14-23 (T. Shearer 6-8, C. Watts 3-3, Johnson 2-3, M. Shearer 1-4, Cook 1-1, Strong 1-3, Michalek 0-1).
Rebounds: BGM 18, Montezuma 18 (Burgess 7, C. Watts 2, Strong 3, M. Shearer 1, Johnson 1, G. Watts 1, De Jong 1, Benson 1, Cook 1).
Assists: Montezuma 19 (C. Watts 4, Burgesss 4, M. Shearer 3, T. Shearer 3, Johnson 2, G. Watts 1, Cook 1, Strong 1).
Steals: Montezuma 16 (C. Watts 5, M. Shearer 4, Burgess 3, T. Shearer 2, G. Watts 1, Benson 1).
Blocks: none.