The Montezuma Braves forged a 30-19 halftime lead against visiting PCM on Thursday evening, Jan. 5.
Things were looking OK for the home team, but before long Montezuma was having a feeding frenzy. The Braves hit the Mustangs with a 30-13 third quarter blitz, and rolled to an 80-52 non-conference victory.
Defense – throughout the game and especially in the third quarter – made the difference for the Braves, said Coach Derrick Dengler.
“Effort and focus,” Dengler said. “We played with great energy and forced a lotof jump shots and turnovers. That led to some confidence on offense and we were able to pull away against the class 2A school with a couple of guy with good size.”
The Braves had three double figures scorers. Gavin Strong scored 21 points, Garrett Watts had 17 and Masin Shearer canned 14.
Strong produced his total of nine-for-18 shooting.
Watts had his second straight strong game, scoring 17 on eight-for-12 shooting.
Shearer dropped in four three-pointers on his way to 14 points.
Brady Boulton just missed double figures with eight points.
The Braves and PCM tied in rebounding with 24 each. Watts and Owen Cook led the Braves with five each.
Montezuma assisted 18 of its 34 baskets. Strong, Shearer and Boulton had four each.
Boulton came up with five of the Braves’ 15 steals.
The win lifted the Braves to 7-3 overall, while PCM tumbled to 3-7.
The win lifted the Braves to 7-3 overall, while PCM tumbled to 3-7.
COME BACK here later for more stats and some detail.
UP NEXT – The Braves and Bravettes swing back into conference action on Friday, Jan. 6, at English Valleys.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
PCM 9 10 13 20 – 52
Montezuma 22 8 30 20 – 80
MONTEZUMA (80)
Briar Simpson 0-0, 0-0, 1, 0. Jack Erselius 0-0, 0-0, 0, 0. Gavin Strong 9-18, 1-2, 0, 21. Masin Shearer 5-13, 0-0, 2, 14. Garrett Watts 8-12, 1-2, 3, 17. David Rose 1-1, 0-0, 0, 2. Brady Boulton 3-9, 1-1, 3, 8. Alex Black 0-1, 0-0, 0, 0. Colton Benson 0-1, 0-0, 0, 0. Owen Cook 3-5, 0-0, 0, 6. Kohen Holland 3-3, 0-0, 1, 7. Max Anderson 2-3, 0-0, 0, 5. Jayden Ross 0-2, 0-0, 0, 0. TOTALS – 34-68, 3-5, 10, 80.
PCM (52)
TOTALS – 22-51, 5-9, 9, 52.
Line score legend: field goals made-attempted, free throws made-attempted, personal fouls, total points.
Three-pointers: Montezuma 9-29 (Shearer 4-8, Strong 2-8, Boulton 1-5, Holland 1-1, Anderson 1-2, Black 0-1, Cook 0-2, Ross 0-2); PCM – 3-13.
Rebounds: Montezuma 24 (Watts 5, Cook 5, Shearer 4, Boulton 4, Strong 2, Holland 2, Anderson 1, Black 1); PCM – 24.
Assists: Montezuma 18 (Strong 4, Shearer 4, Boulton 4, Watts 2, Cook 2, Anderson 1, Erselius 1); PCM – not available.
Steals: Montezuma 15 (Boulton 5, Strong 2, Shearer 2, Watts 2, Cook 2, Anderson 1, Black 1.
Blocks: Montezuma 3 (Strong 2, Boulton 1); PCM 2.
Deflections: Montezuma 11 (Shearer 4, Boulton 4, Strong 1, Watts 1, Cook 1).