The Montezuma Braves have had some welcome away from game action, giving them some much-needed practice time, and time for healing.
The 17-4 Braves open Class 1A district play at home on Monday evening, Feb. 14, against 9-12 Pekin.
The Braves have had to adjust on the fly to not having Masin Shearer at guard. And, they’re sill getting used to absorbing their new addition, 6-4 swing man Nik Kotar, who has averaged 12.8 points in his first six games.
Pekin scores 47 points a game and gives up 48.
The Panthers’ leader is 6-3 junior Luke Long, a 13.8 scorer who shoots .524 from the field and averages 7 rebounds a game.
Chandler Stull, a 6-0 junior, scores 9.2 points a contest. Ben Ehret, a 6-0 junior, averages 6.7.
The top assists man is Colton Comstock, a 6-1 senior, with 4.4 per game.
The Braves get 16.6 points and 16 rebounds a game from 6-4 post forward Eddie Burgess, the leading rebounder in all classes of Iowa high school basketball.
Shearer averaged 14.1 points and 4.5 assists until being injured against North Mahaska.
Gavin Strong averages 11.0 points, 6.4 rebounds and 2.4 assists.
Owen Cook scores 8.8 points and pulls down 3.4 rebounds, in addition to being a tough defender.
The X-factor for Montezuma is 6-4 senior exchange student Nik Kotar, who has averaged 12.8 points and shown quite a bit of versatility in his first six games as a Brave.
MONTEZUMA’S GAME against Pekin will be live-streamed, as will the girls’ Tuesday contest against Highland. If you’re going, you’ll need to purchase your tickets on in advance. Same for the girls on Tuesday.
MONDAY’S WINNER – will go to the Thursday, Feb. 17 district semifinals at WACO, against the Keota-WACO winner. Keota has an 11-11 record, and will need to be sharp to knock off 17-4 WACO on its home court.