DES MOINES – Some people don’t like consolation games.
Other people make the most of the opportunities those games afford.
The Montezuma Braves were those “other” people on Thursday morning, March 12, . . .”bring it on!” they said, “This is GREAT!
The Braves put together maybe their best all-around game and beat a good Sheffield West Fork team, 78-72, to take the third place trophy in the Class 1A state tournament at Wells Fargo Arena.
It’s tough to bounce back bright and early after your state championship dream crashes and burns the afternoon before.
But, the past has no life. So the Braves buried it and moved forward.
“Consolation games are about getting a chance to play another game,” Montezuma Coach Derrick Dengler said, the day before. “There’s not an infinity of games. I have no doubt our guys will be ready to play.”
He knows his guys.
The Braves . . .hit threes, got Cole Watts re-ignited, closed off the lane with their 2-3 zone, contested shots, even though Wapsie Valley nailed 17 from behind the arc, got enough rebounds against a strong board team, handled the ball better, drove to the basket, and nailed free throw after free throw.
They made some big plays along the way.
Their big three scorers were stuck in the “on” position. Trey Shearer scored 27 points, Watts had 26 and Eddie Burgess had 18 points and
13 rebounds.
All of Burgess’ boards were off the defensive glass. West Fork had 11 offensive rebounds, but consider where Montezuma might have been had Burgess not gathered in his 13.
The Braves led 22-17 after one quarter and 38-28 at halftime.
Watts hit a three, then Shearer hit a solo drive to give the Braves a 15-point lead just two minutes before halftime, although that lead melted to 10 before the buzzer.
Midway through the third quarter, Trey Shearer hit a three-ball while being fouled and converted the free throw for a four-point play and a 48-34 Braves lead.
The Braves were attacking the basket, and getting themselves to the free throw line. Burgess was tremendous in the second half, and nailed 10 in a row from the line during one stretch.
But West Fork, down by nine after three quarters, had a missile-launching run left.
They fired trey after trey and went 17-for-32 from behind the arc. They assisted 22 of 25 made baskets. That’s phenomenal, but it means they were skip-passing over the Braves’ zone and shooting from way back.
And hitting.
“It gets a little frustrating when we’d play good defesne, then they come down and hit those shots,” Trey Shearer said.
Meanwhile, the Braves had the lane area sealed. The Warhawks were just 8-for-25 from two-point range, 32 percent.
With 3:30 left and Montezuma up 67-61, Trey Shearer was about to be called for a five-second violation, with Ian Latham hounding him. Instead, Latham was called for a technical foul.
Shearer made both free throws to push the lead to eight points. Moments later, Latham picked up his fifth personal, after leading a late rush by West Fork with 10 fourth quarter points.
The Braves went to a four-corners offense with 2:20 left, but Kaylen Ames drilled a three to cut the lead to 75-72 with 44 seconds left. But Montezuma killed over 20 seconds handling the ball before West Fork fouled freshman Masin Sheaer with 19.3 seconds left. Masin made both free throws, Burgess grabbed another rebound and the Braves, who had several fouls to “give” before putting West Fork on the line, used them.
“I was proud of how our guys responded to their runs,” Trey Shearer told Chris Varney of KGRN. “When they came out and guarded us on the perimeter, we were able to drive into the middle. And we made free throws.”
“They were a good team,” Shearer said. “This was fun.”
West Fork closed the books on a 24-4 season.
For the Braves: A magnificent 25-3 season, and the taller of the two trophies.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
West Fork 17 11 19 25 – 72
Montezuma 22 16 18 22 – 78
WEST FORK (72) – Ian Latham 3-8, 4-5, 5, 13. Brett Weaver 2-5, 0-0, 1, 5. Kayden Ames 8-15, 0-0, 2, 22. Jakob Washington 1-6, 1-2, 3, 3. Brayden Vold 0-4, 0-0, 3, 0. Noah Maske 0-0, 0-0, 0, 0. Colin Martinek 0-1, 0-0, 1, 0. Ren Heimer 3-5, 0-0, 2, 9. Cail Weaver 6-9, 0-0, 4, 16. Joe Ingham 2-4, 0-0, 1, 4. TOTALS – 25-57, 5-7, 222, 72.
MONTEZUMA (78) – Brayden Arendt, 0-4, 0-0, 1, 0. Masin Shearer 2-3, 2-5, 1, 7. Cole Watts 6-11, 9-10, 2, 26. Trey Shearer 8-19, 7-9, 1, 27. Eddie Burgess 4-6, 9-11, 2, 18. Joey Kercheval 0-0, 0-0, 0, 0. Owen Cook 0-0, 0-0, 0, 0. Gavin Strong 0-1, 0-0, 0, 0. Brody Chidester 0-1, 0-0, 0, 0. TOTALS – 20-45, 27-35, 7, 78.
Line score legend: Field goals attempted-made, free throws attempted-made, personal fouls, total points.
Assists: West Fork 22 (B. Weaver 5, Latham 3, Heimer 3, C. Weaver 3, Ames 2, Vold 2, Maske 2, Washington 1, Martinek 1); Montezuma 13 (T. Shearer 5, Burgess 3, Arendt 2, Watts 2, M. Shearer 1).
Rebounds: West Fork 34 (Washington 10, Vold 8, Latham 4, B. Weaver 3, Ingham 3, Martinek 2, Ames 1, Heimer 1, C. Weaver 1); Montezuma 26 (Burgess 13, Watts 3, T. Shearer 3, Chidester 3, Arendt 1, M. Shearer 1, Cook 1, team 1).
Three-point goals: West Fork 17-32 (Ames 6-11, C. Weaver 4-6, Heimer 3-5, Latham 3-6, B. Weaver 1-2, Washington 0-1, Martinek 0-1); Montezuma 11-25 (Watts 5-10, T. Shearer 4-10, M. Shearer 1-1, Burgess 1-1, Strong 0-1, Arendt 0-2).
Steals: West Fork 5 (C. Weaver 2, Ames 2, Heimer 1); Montezuma 9 (T. Shearer 4, Watts 2, Arendt 1, M. Shearer 1, Strong 1).
Turnovers: West Fork 14, Montezuma 9.
Blocks: West Fork 2 (Latham 1, Ames 1); Montezuma 2 (T. Shearer 1, Burgess 1).
Fouled out: West Fork – Latham, 3:12 4th qtr).
Technical foul: West Fork – Latham.
