Unless you watched it from the start, you will be stunned to learn that North Mashaska, trailing Montezuma by one point through three quarters, wound up winning going away, 50-34, on Tuesday evening Dec. 14.
But the Warhawks set the charges early with a zone defense, then when the pin was pulled in the fourth quarter, the Braves were left in ruins, at least for this game.
It was a 20-3 fourth quarter for North Mahaska.
These teams were unbeaten coming in. Montezuma was as high as second in Class 1A. The Warhawks were not ranked.
There will be some adjustment to those positions, to say the least.
Montezuma’s own defense showed quickness through three quarters and kept a high-scoring North Mahaska offense from going off.
But the Braves imploded in the fourth. Or got caved in on, whatever you want to call it.
Most of the night, taller players were stationed on either side of Braves point guard Masin Shearer in Montezuma’s half-court offense.
Shearer and the Braves found some seams in the defense earlier, but not so much in the fourth as the Warhawks’ confidence grew and their movement intensified.
When the Braves did find seams in the fourth quarter, their shots were not falling.
North Mahaska shot .395 from the field, but the Braves countered with .289, against the likes of 6-6 Nash Smith, 6-4 Braden Steel and 6-1 Lane Harmon.
Shearer led the Braves with 16 points, with Eddie Burgess in with 10. Gavin Strong scored 6 for the Braves.
Burgess had 14 rebounds, but the Warhawks led 35-25 in this category. Still, Montezuma persisted.
With Burgess working hard on the inside, the Braves went up 31-26 at the 2:19 mark of the third quarter on Shearer’s fourth three-pointer of the game.
But the game turned on a dime after a technical foul against Montezuma with 5:19 left to play.
Burgess fouled Smith on a made basket and reacted to the call, drawing a technical foul. Smith made a free throw for the foul on the play, then two for the technical. Braden Steel scored a basket after North Mahaska was awarded the ball and the Warhawks were in the middle of a 13-0 run to give them a 43-31 lead with 4:12 left to play.
Strong’s free throw with 1:51 left in the game was Montezuma’s first point of the fourth quarter. Montezuma did not make a field goal in the fourth period.
Smith finished with 21 points for the game. Harmon scored 12, and Steel had 8 points, 10 rebounds and a block.
You’ll recall that Montezuma lost to North Mahaska in their first meeting last season, too – then went on to win the state championship.
“I think this game will teach us a lot,” Braves Coach Derrick Dengler said. “One, how important each possession is in a close game like that.”
“We had one possession that really hurt us in particular, along with some careless ball handling at other times that will need to be cleaned up,” the coach said.
“Two, having patience throughout the whole game. A lot of North Mahaska’s offense came from our mistakes defensively, so we have to be really solid going forward.”
The Braves, who had averaged less than 12 personal fouls per game prior to this one, were called for 21. Strong and Colton Benson fouled out and Burgess totaled four fouls.
The Warhawks are 6-0, including 5-0 in South Iowa Cedar League play.
The Braves, at 5-1 and 4-1, likely are happy to have two more chances yet this week to try and flush this result from their minds.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
North Mahaska 8 11 11 20 – 50
Montezuma 12 7 12 3 – 34
MONTEZUMA (50) – Gavin Strong 2-11, 2-4, 5, 6. Masin Shearer 5-16, 2-2, 3, 16. Maguire De Jong 0-4, 0-0, 2, 0. Owen Cook 1-4, 0-0, 2, 2. Eddie Burgess 5-6, 0-0, 4, 10. Colton Benson 0-4, 0-4, 5, 0. TOTALS – 13-45, 4-10, 21, 34.
NORTH MAHASKA (34) – TOTALS 17-43, 15-26, 10, 50.
Line score legend: Field goals made-attempted, free throws made-attempted, personal fouls, total points.
Turnovers: Montezuma 19, North Mahaska 20.
Three-point goals: Montezuma 4-23 (Shearer 4-10, Benson 0-2, Cook 0-3, De Jong 0-3, Strong 0-5); North Mahaska 1-9.
Rebounds: Montezuma 25 (Burgess 14, Strong 4, Cook 3, De Jong 2, Benson 1, Shearer 1): North Mahaska 35.
Assists: Montezuma 7 (Burgess 3, Strong 2, Shearer 2).
Steals: Montezuma 10 (Burgess 4, Strong 2, Shearer 2, Cook 2).
Blocks: Montezuma 5 (Burgess 4, Cook 1); North Mahaska 2.
North Mahaska leaders: scoring – Nash Smith 21, Lane Harmon 12, Braden Steel 8. Rebounds: Steel 10.