In post-season, you win and play again. Otherwise, it’s one and done.
The Montezuma Braves wobbled from the starting gate and found themselves trailing a persistent Pekin Panthers club 31-27 at halftime.
But the Braves got their focus, pressed the Panthers out of sync, and pulled away to a 63-46 win on Monday, Feb. 14, in the first round of Class 1A district play.
The Braves outscored Pekin 36-15 in the second half.
“Defense, as always, made the difference tonight,” said Braves Coach Derrick Dengler.
The win sends Montezuma on to the next round, Thursday night in Wayland, against homestanding WACO, which sprinted away from Keota in the second half, 65-46. That game will match teams with 18-4 records.
The Braves put just four players into the scoring column, but all reached double figures.
Post forward Eddie Burgess scored 27 points and pulled down 14 rebounds. During the game, the four-year starter reached a plateau: 1,000 career points.
Wing man Gavin Strong dropped in 16, and Nik Kotar and Owen Cook each scored 10, all of Kotar’s coming in the second half. Strong added 4 assists to his scoring.
The Braves missed some shots in the first quarter and found themselves down 13-6 until late in the period.
The Panthers scored with some short drives against Montezuma’s man-to-man defense, and also nailed a trio of three-balls in the first quarter.
But Burgess was scoring inside and in transition for Montezuma. He scored 15 of the Braves’ first 18 points, and led a 13-2 run that started in the first period and carried over into a 19-15 lead in the second.
But Pekin had some offense left and outscored Montezuma 18-11 in the period to take a four-point lead into the second half.
Montezuma was more active on defense immediately at the start of the third quarter.
The Braves got the lead at 36-35 on Strong’s traditional three-point play, then a steal and basket by Cook made it 38-35.
Made field goals or free throws allowed Montezuma set up a very disruptive full-court press. The Braves forced Pekin to take the ball deep into the wings, and some off-balance shot attempts followed.
The Braves enjoyed a 21-11 third quarter to lead by six, but Pekin wasn’t stopping them now.
A Cook pass to Burgess for a backhanded layup while being fouled made it 59-44 after Burgess made the free throw. That came with 4:25 left to play, and pretty much took the last wind out of Pekin’s sails.
Burgess added 5 steals and 3 assists to his totals. Maguire De Jong, always a stopper on defense, had 4 steals.
“We need to tighten up the start of our games,” Dengler said. “We struggled taking care of the ball.”
But so did Pekin. While Montezuma made 14 turnovers, Pekin was making 26.
Pekin bowed out at 9-13.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Pekin 13 18 11 4 – 46
Montezuma 16 11 21 15 – 63
MONTEZUMA (63) – Gavin Strong 6-13, 3-3, 1, 10. Garrett Watts 0-0, 0-0, 0, 0. Maguire De Jong 0-2, 0-0, 1, 0. Nik Kotar 3-8, 1-2, 2, 8. Colton Benton 0-0, 0-1, 1,0. Owen Cook 4-7, 1-2, 3, 10. Eddie Burgess 12-18, 3-4, 2, 27. TOTALS – 25-48, 8-12, 10, 63.
PEKIN (46) – TOTALS – 20-42, 1-4, 17, 46.
Line score legend: Field goals made-attempted, free throws made-attempted, personal fouls, total points).
Turnovers: Montezuma 14, Pekin 26.
Three-pointers: Montezuma 5-13 (Kota 3-5, Cook 1-1, Strong 1-7); Pekin 5-15.
Rebounds: Montezuma 27 (Burgess 14, Strong 4, Kotar 2, Watts 1, De Jong 1, Cook 1, Team 4); Pekin 21.
Assists: Montezuma 12 (Strong 4, Burgess 3, Kotar 2, Cook 2, Benson 1).
Steals: Montezuma 12 (Burgess 5, De Jong 4, Strong 1, Benson 1, Cook 1).
Blocks: Montezuma 2 (Kotar, Burgess); Pekin 1.