DES MOINES – What might the Montezuma Braves do to top this?
We’ll all have a chance to find out on Friday!
The Braves, their defense icing taller Grand View Christian – especially for a nine-minute stretch of second half play, when the Thunder didn’t make a basket – won Wednesday (March 10) night’s Class 1A semifinal game, 49-35.
The 24-2 Braves have knocked off the second- and third-seeded teams, and now they’ll go against the top seed, unbeaten North Linn, for the state championship. It tips off at high noon on Friday in Wells Fargo Arena.
While the Braves’ defense gets all kinds of credit and deservedly so, the offense and Coach Derrick Dengler’s game plan get high marks, too.
Montezuma went to the rim early and throughout. That attracted Daniel Tobiloba, the Thunder’s 6-11 sophomore center.
He swatted down three Eddie Burgess shot attempts early, and altered the trajectories of shots by Cole Watts and Trey Shearer.
But the Braves, kept attacking, and Trey Shearer drew Tobiloba’s second personal foul with 5:30 left in the half. The big center was still a factor, especially on rebounds, after that, but Montezuma had done some major damage.
For the game, sharp-passing Montezuma had a 32-6 lead in points in the paint against the larger Thunder.
Montezuma went on a 9-0 run in the second quarter, capped by Shearer’s three-point play (on Tobiloba’s second foul) giving the Braves a 14-12 lead with 5:30 left.
But less than a minute later, Trey Shearer picked up a personal foul and a technical, but the Braves maintained their lead at 19-18 with 2:44 left in the half.
Cam Johnson, Trey Shearer and Watts were doing great defensive work against Manny Hammonds, Grand View’s season scoring leader (20.1 ppg.).
Hammonds shot one-for-seven from the field in the first half, in which he scored three free throws. He finished with one basket in 11 attempts and six points.
“I was very proud of our defensive effort,” said Braves Coach Derrick Dengler. “Hammonds was one of the toughest guards we have seen and we did a tremendous job making his shots very difficult.”
Montezuma led 21-18 at halftime. The Braves had equaled the Thunder on the boards at 17-17 and limited Grand View Chrisitan to .273 field goal shooting.
The Braves were superb during a 13-8 third quarter, when they started the Thunder on that nine-minute drought between field goals which carried over into the fourth.
Montezuma was up 36-26 through three quarters, and the experience of the Braves in state play was pretty evident now as they dictated the game’s tempo to a younger Grand View team.
Cole Watts began making challenging drives and he scored 11 of his 13 points during the second half.
Trey Shearer, who had 14 points at halftime, got his teammates involved during the third quarter, but he did finish with 18 for high point honors.
Burgess, undaunted by those three straight blocks against him early, came back with seven points after a scoreless first half, and he was terrific on the boards, pulling down a game-high 15 rebounds.
“Offensively, when we attacked and were simple, we had guys step up and make big plays,” Dengler said.
Burgess also was an outlet out front for Montezuma’s guards, who killed clock on each possession after the 2:49 mark of the third quarter.
Masin Shearer added seven points to the Braves’ total, and Cam Johnson scored four, including an early three-pointer.
Tobiloba finished with 14 rebounds, but just two points on one-for-two shooting, as Grand View’s offense was never fluid in taking the ball inside.
Josh Baucum scored nine for the Thunder, and guard Jonny Gatto led them with 11.
Trey Shearer added eight rebounds and three assists to his scoring totals.
The Braves had a 30-28 edge in rebounds, and shot 44 percent from the field, to 29 percent by Grand View Christian.
Grand View Christian ended its season at 21-2.
UP NEXT – The Braves (24-2) play 27-0 North Linn at noon on Friday for the Class 1A state championship.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Montezuma 9 12 15 13 – 49
Grand View Christian 9 9 8 9 – 35
OFFICIAL BOX SCORE
MONTEZUMA (49)
Cam Johnson 1-1, 1-2, 1, 4. Masin Shearer 3-6, 1-3, 4, 7. Cole Watts 6-14, 0-0, 2, 13. Trey Shearer 6-14, 5-5, 3, 18. Eddie Burgess 3-7, 1-4, 1, 7. Owen Cook 0-0, 0-0, 0, 0. Jacob Ross 0-0, 0-0, 0, 0. Gavin Strong 0-1, 0-0, 0, 0. Joey Kercheval 0-0, 0-0, 0, 0. TOTALS – 19-43, 8-14, 11, 49.
GRAND VIEW CHRISTIAN (35)
Alandis Arrasmith 2-6, 0-0, 3, 5. Josh Baucum 3-9, 2-3, 3, 9. Manny Hammonds 1-11, 4-6, 2, 6. Jonny Gatto 4-10, 0-0, 2, 11. Daniel Tobiloba 1-3, 0-0, 4, 2. Josh Sanderson 0-0, 0-0, 0, 0. Logan Witzenburg 0-0, 0-0, 0, 0. Evan Rogers 0-0, 0-0, 0, 0. Derek Merrifield 0-0, 0-0, 0, 0. Caleb Parlee 1-2, 0-0, 0, 2. Eli Tarbell 0-0, 0-0, 0, 0. Noah John 0-0, 0-0, 0, 0. TOTALS – 12-41, 6-9, 14, 35.
Line score legend: Field goals made-attempted, free throws made-attempted, personal fouls, total points.
Technical foul: Montezuma (T. Shearer).
Turnovers: Montezuma 7, Grand View Christian 14.
Three-point goals: Montezuma 3-12 (Johnson 1-1, Watts 1-3, T. Shearer 1-5, M. Shearer 0-2, Strong 0-1); Grand View Christian 5-17 (Gatto 3-7, Arrasmith 1-4, Baucus 1-6).
Rebounds: Montezuma 30 (Burgess 15, T. Shearer 8, Watts 4, Johnson 1, Cook 1, team 1); Grand View Christian 28 (Tobiloba 14. Gatto 4, Hammonds 4, Parlee 3, Baucum 1, team 2).
Assists: Montezuma 6 (T. Shearer 3, M. Shearer 2, Watts 1); Grand View Christian 6 (Arrasmith 3, Hammonds 1, Gatto 1, Tobiloba 1).
Steals: Montezuma 8 (M. Shearer 3, Watts 2, T. Shearer 1, Burgess 1, Johnson 1); Grand View Christian 5 (Tobiloba 3, Baucum 2).
Blocks: Montezuma none; Grand View Christian 3 (Tobiloba 3).
