BELLE PLAINE – Individual accomplishments in basketball are a result of strong team play.
Montezuma’s Trey Shearer is quick to tell you that.
Tuesday night, Jan. 12, Montezuma’s senior guard became the first-ever Montezuma player to score 2,000 career points as he led the Braves to a convincing 75-46 victory over Belle Plaine. He’s just the 41st high school player in Iowa history to reach that level.
The win pushed the Braves to 9-1 in South Iowa Cedar League play, and shines a spotlight on Friday night’s home showdown against unbeaten Keota.
Montezuma jumped out to an early 8-0 lead and kept the advantage all the way. But, there were a few bends and twists in the road along the way.
The Braves needed to keep 6-4 Belle Plaine junior Ben DeMeulenaere in check. He’s a 19-points a game scorer and a leading rebounder as well.
Mission accomplished, again with a team effort. Eddie Burgess, the Braves’ 6-4 post forward, got his first start and defended DeMeulenaere in the Braves’ man to man defense. But when the ball did get inside, Burgess got help off the weak side from Cole Watts and others.
Result: The Braves limited DeMeulenaere’s touches and movement. He was tough when he was able to take his first step on drives. But he just wasn’t available to his teammates much of the time. He made it to double figures14 points), but not until late. Belle Plaine passed the ball well, though, and assisted 14 of their 19 field goals.
Meanwhile, the Braves were dropping three-bombs all over the southeast side of Belle Plaine. Fifteen of them, in all. Out of 30 attempts. That’s phenomenal shooting from behind the arc.
Montezuma led 20-10 after one quarter, 44-27 at halftime and 67-37 after three.
Shearer wound up with 28 points, and hit the magic number in the second half with a conventional three-point play. He did can seven three-pointers, by the way. He now has 2,005 points – and counting. Trey Shearer was 10-for-15 from the field, including seven-for-10 on three-pointers.
Swing guard Cole Watts scored 16 points and dropped in four of seven from behind the arc. He also had five rebounds and five assists.
Burgess scored 12 points, including a resounding dunk on an offensive rebound. He also scored with first his right, then his left hand, after taking quick passes from teammates. He led the Braves with eight rebounds and dished five assists.
Masin Shearer threw down 11 points to become the fourth Brave into double figures scoring. Masin had three assists as the Braves assisted 17 of their 27 baskets.
The Braves made just two turnovers through three quarters. They finished with five. Belle Plaine had 14.
Belle Plaine is 8-6 overall and 5-5 in league play.
Montezuma is 10-2 overall, including its 9-1 SICL mark.
UP NEXT – The Braves host Keota Friday evening, Jan. 15.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Montezuma 20 24 23 8 – 75
Belle Plaine 10 17 10 9 – 46
MONTEZUMA (75)
Cam Johnson 0-2, 5-6, 1, 5. Masin Shearer 4-9, 0-0, 0, 11. Cole Watts 6-10, 0-0, 2, 16. Trey Shearer 10-15, 1-1, 1, 28. Eddie Burgess 6-9, 0-0, 1, 12. Garrett Watts 0-3, 0-0, 1, 0. Maguire De Jong 0-0, 0-0, 0, 0. Owen Cook 0-0, 0-0, 2, 0. Gavin Strong 1-3, 0-0, 0, 3. Joey Kercheval 0-1, 0-0, 0, 0. Ryan Cheney 0-1, 0-0, 0, 0. TOTALS – 27-53, 6-7, 8, 75.
BELLE PLAINE (46)
TOTALS – 19-43, 2-4, 10, 46.
Line score legend: Field goals attempted-made, free throws attempted-made, personal fouls, total points.
Turnovers: Belle Plaine 14, Montezuma 5.
Three-point goals: Belle Plaine 6-21, Montezuma 15-30 (T. Shearer 7-10, C. Watts 4-7, M. Shearer 3-7, Strong 1-2, Johnson 0-1, G. Watts 0-1, Kercheval 0-1, Cheney 0-1).
Rebounds: Belle Plaine 23, Montezuma 20 (Burgess 8, C. Watts 5, T. Shearer 2, Cook 2, Johnson 1, Strong 1, De Jong 1).
Steals: Belle Plaine 2, Montezuma 11 (T. Shearer 5, Johnson 2, M. Shearer 1, C. Watts 1, Cook 1, Cheney 1).
Assists: Belle Plaine 14, Montezuma 17 (C. Watts 5, Burgess 5, M. Shearer 3, T. Shearer 2, Cook 1, Strong 1).
Blocks: Belle Plaine 3, Montezuma 2 (Burgess 1, Strong 1).