When Montezuma plays Keota in boys basketball, it’s fun.
Seriously!
Friday night (Jan. 15) when they meet, Montezuma will bring in Class 1A’s third most prolific offense – 77 points a game. Keota will offer up the fourth-stingiest defense – at 36.6 points per outing.
Something’s gotta give – and it will. It’s a big game in terms of who will win the South Iowa Cedar League championship.
Taking a larger view, this game (it’s in Montezuma) offers both teams some excellent training ground for hoped-for state tournament runs.
Keota is 11-0. Montezuma is 10-2 and has just one loss in conference play, as does North Mahaska. So, Montezuma’s home game against the Warhawks on Tuesday (Jan. 19) will mean more if the Braves beat Keota.
Montezuma’s average winning margin in its games is 25.8 points. For Keota, it’s 25.7 points.
Even so, the BCMoore Rankings service makes the Braves the favorite, by less than half a point.
Fun. Seriously!
A pair of 6-foot guards lead the Eagles. Carson Sprouse averages 17.4 points. He shoots 48 percent from the field, including 41 percent on three-pointers.
Luke Hammen scores 16.9 per game and averages five rebounds.
Brady Duwa, 6-2, scores 9.7 per contest and leads the team at 5.5 rebounds a game. Wyatt Sieren, 6-2, averages five rebounds.
A trio of Eagles average 2.5 assists.
Say ‘Keota’ around Montezuma’s Trey Shearer, and his ears go up. The Montezuma senior has played against Keota five times in his career and has been on the winning team each time.
As a freshman playing with the varsity, Shearer scored 29 and 11 points in his first two games against the Eagles. As a sophomore, he dropped a 48-bomb on Keota. Last year, it was 38 and 22 points.
Shearer, the state’s scoring leader (all classes), averages 31.0 points. She shoots. .580 from the field, including .500 from behind the arc.
“Trey is the fastest guy with the ball I’ve ever coached,” Braves Coach Derrick Dengler told Chris Varney of KGRN radio. “He keeps adding more moves. His three-point shooting off the dribble has improved.”
“Trey needs just a glimpse of space to get off his shot,” Dengler said.
Swing man Cole Watts has improved during his senior season, too. He is scoring 21.3 points per game and shoots .587 from the field and .455 on treys. He also is up to 8.3 rebounds per game.
“Rebounding hurt us in our two losses,” Dengler said. “But we’ve tightened things up. We’re doing more pressing.”
And the Braves got major good news when Burgess returned from his knee rehabilitation three games ago.
Cole Watts is the guy who shoots out opponents’ lights. Shearer is the one who runs them off the road. Burgess is the guy who stokes Montezuma’s energy spiral with his rebounding, passing, scoring if needed and general basketball IQ.
In three games, the 6-4, 220-pounder has averaged 7.3 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 12 points, while shooting 18-for-23 (.783) from the field.
“I’m happy for Eddie and I’m happy for our team,” Dengler said about Burgess’ return. “Rebounding is a big piece. Other guys have stepped up for us, but Eddie just seems to have a knack for it,” the coach said. “Plus, he’s a great leader.”
“On offense, Eddie does a lot for us. He’s a good mover of the basketball. Now, we can get other guys back into the roles they’re most used to.”
Dangler also noted that they’re bringing Burgess back up to speed, “slowly.”
Fun.
Seriously!!