BELLE PLAINE – To stay with Montezuma, teams need to be prepared to break up their runs of points.
Belle Plaine, despite a promising start, couldn’t match the Braves in being relentless, and Montezuma got out of town with an important 60-40 conference win on Tuesday evening, Jan. 10.
The game was important for both teams, because each side came in with three South Iowa Cedar League defeats.
The Plainsmen penetrated for some good shots in the first quarter, and were aided by some sloppy passes by their vistiors. Belle Plaine led 9-8 after one quarter.
But the first of several Montezuma runs was about to leave the station.
Brady Boulton hit a three-pointer, then scored off a steal. Masin Shearer dropped in a trey as the Braves opened the second quarter with a 7-0 run to grab the lead.
Later, a trey by Gavin Strong, a steal and layup by Shearer, and three-bomb by Max Anderson put the Braves up 24-13 and for the most part, in control.
Montezuma’s zone-pressing defense slowed the Belle-Plaine offense and the Braves went off at halftime leading 29-20.
It was more of the same in the third quarter, as Montezuma’s 9-2 run at the start of the period put the Braves out of reach.
Two Braves scored in double figures and a third just missed. Gavin Strong scored 16 points and Masin Shearer dialed up 15.
Max Anderson scored nine by nailing three-of-four from behind the three-point arc.
The Braves limited Belle Plaine to .305 field goal shooting. That included one-for-22 from behind the arc.
Brady Boulton (7 points), experienced a tough shooting time, but led the team with six assists.
Shearer led the Braves with six rebounds and added five steals, three assists and four deflections.
Assistants Tim Burgess, Cal Smith and Greg Long called the shots for head Coach Derrick Dengler, who was out with an illness.
Montezuma improved its record to 9-3 overall and to 7-3 in the SICL.
Belle Plaine fell to 9-4 and to 6-4 in the league.
UP NEXT – The Braves host Tri-County on Friday, Jan. 13.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Montezuma 8 21 20 11 – 60
Belle Plaine 9 11 8 12 – 40
MONTEZUMA (60)
Jack Erselius 0-0, 0-0, 1, 0. Gavin Strong 6-13, 0-0, 0, 16. Masin Shearer 6-14, 1-4, 1, 15. Garrett Watts 2-6, 2-2, 1, 6. David Rose 0-0, 0-0, 0, 0. Brady Boulton 3-12, 0-0, 3, 7. Alex Black 0-0, 0-0, 0, 0. Colton Benson 1-1, 0-0, 2, 2. Owen Cook 2-5, 0-0, 2, 5. Kohen Holland 0-0, 0-0, 0, 0. Max Anderson 3-6, 0-2, 2, 9. Jayden Ross 0-1, 0-0, 0, 0. TOTALS – 23-58, 3-8, 12, 60.
BELLE PLAINE (40)
TOTALS – 18-59, 3-9, 9, 40.
Line score legend: field goals made-attempted, free throws made-attempted, personal fouls, total points.
Three-pointers: Montezuma 11-30 (Strong 4-8, Anderson 3-4, Shearer 2-7, Cook 1-1, Boulton 1-8, Ross 0-1, Watts 0-1); Belle Plaine 1-22.
Turnovers: Montezuma 11, Belle Plaine 18.
Rebounds: Montezuma 28 (Shearer 6, Watts 5, Cook 4, Boulton 5, Anderson 4, Strong 2, Benson 1, Holland 1); Belle Plaine – 32.
Assists: Montezuma 14 (Boulton 6, Shearer 3, Strong 2, Cook 2, Watts 1).
Steals: Montezuma 12 (Shearer 5, Watts 2, Boulton 2, Benson 2, Anderson 1).
Deflections: Montezuma 13 (Strong 4, Shearer 4, Boulton 3, Watts 2).