MONROE – You want to get some good out of every game.
You want to win, too.
The Montezuma Braves dropped a 55-53 double overtime game to PCM Thursday night, Jan. 30. It was a terrific learning lab against an athletic and taller opponent.
But still . . .it was so close!
“We had a couple of chances to win, took the lead with a few minutes to go in the fourth quarter and had the last shot it overtime. But, we came up short,” said Braves Coach Derrick Dengler.
“They were able to win by forcing us into outside shots and getting good looks for their two best offensive players,” Dengler said.
But still. . .
The Mustangs, a nifty 11-5 Class 2A team, had four starters who stand 6-2, 6-2, 6-3 and 6-4. Eddie Burgess, at 6-4, is at least five inches taller than the rest of the starting Braves.
“Their length was definitely a factor,” Dengler said.
The Braves are no strangers to shooting up three balls. They launched 33 of them in this game, more than half of their 52 shot attempts on the night.
Montezuma knocked down 11 of those and that was a factor that kept the Braves even or close to it all game.
The Braves couldn’t take the ball to the rim like they are used to. They shot just three free throws, all by Trey Shearer. He made two. The Mustangs shot 20, making 10.
Shearer was limited to 13 points on 11 shot attempts.
“Trey became more of a distributor,” Dengler said. Trey had seven assists.
“PCM played a triangle and two defense on Trey and Cole (Watts), sometimes a box and one,” the coach said.
“The game was slower-paced. Both team played zone,” Dengler said.
Watts led the Braves with 22 points, including six three-pointers in 17 attempts.
Derek Brown, a 6-3 inside man for the Mustangs, scored 26 points and had 10 rebounds. Brown shot 12-for-18 from the floor.
The other big point-getter for PCM was 6-2 Jason Stafford, who had 18 points, to go with eight rebounds and seven assists.
Gatlin Boell (6-2) had nine rebounds.
Burgess fouled out early in the fourth quarter, “and it was difficult for us to rebound against their length,” Dengler said.
Masin Shearer helped pick up some of the scoring slack with nine points on a trio of treys.
Burgess had six points, seven rebounds, three steals and three deflections.
Trey Shearer also fouled out, in the second overtime.
The defeat dropped Montezuma to 13-2 on the season.
Did the Braves get some good out of this game? Undoubtedly. They will probably see a team like this in the post-season. And, it was non-conference, so it didn’t hurt them there.
But still . . .
UP NEXT – The Braves are at HLV on Friday, Jan. 31. There will be a JV boys game downstairs at 6 while the varsity girls game is played in the main gym.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Montezuma 11 9 9 17 2 5 – 53
PCM 9 10 12 15 2 7 – 55
MONTEZUMA (53) – Brayden Arendt 1-5, 0-0, 2, 3. Masin Shearer 3-9, 0-0, 0, 9. Cole Watts 8-21, 0-0, 4, 22. Trey Shearer 5-11, 2-3, 5, 13. Owen Cook 0-0, 0-0, 0, 0. Gavin Strong 0-0, 0-0, 0, 0. Eddie Burgess 3-6, 0-0, 5, 6. TOTALS – 20-52, 2-3, 16, 53.
PCM (55)
TOTALS – 20-49, 10-20, 12, 55.
Line score legend: Field goals made-attempted, free throws made-attempted, personal fouls, total points.
Turnovers: Montezuma 10, PCM 13.
Rebounds: Montezuma 27 (Watts 9, Burgess 7, Arendt 3, T. Shearer 2, M. Shearer 1, Cook 1, team 4); PCM 34.
Three-point goals: Montezuma 11133 (Watts 6, M. Shearer 3, Arendt 1, T. Shearer 1); PCM 5-21.
Assists: T. Shearer 7, Watts 3, Burgess 2, M. Shearer 1.
Steals: Burgess 3, M. Shearer 3, Watts 2, Arendt 1, T. Shearer 1.
Deflections: Burgess 3, T. Shearer 1, team 1.