You just never know where the next challenge is coming from.
Will it be from a team you’ve already beaten handily twice, but has been improving?
Will it be from illness that weakens team members?
Or some combination of those and other factors?
Montezuma prevailed over a hot-shooting HLV team, 83-73, in its first post-season game Thursday evening, Feb. 20, at home.
In tournament play, you win, and you move on. So the Braves will host North Mahaska Tuesday evening, Feb. 25. Tip-off is at 8 p.m.
There were heroes on both sides in this one.
The winning Braves were a well-oiled machine on offense. They assisted 23 of their 32 made field goals, shot .667 from the field and an astounding .770 from two-point range.
The Warriors connected on 13-of-27 from three-point range and shot .509 from the field. But those 13 treys only topped the Braves by one three-pointer.
“HLV, to its credit, made a lot of shots,” said Braves Coach Derrick Dengler. “We left some of their guys open early and gave them some confidence. But they have really improved.”
“We played well offensively, found the open man and shot the ball well from behind the arc,” Dengler said.
Montezuma led 18-10 after one quarter, but both teams put up 20 points in the second quarter and the Braves led 38-30 at the half.
Montezuma put up 30 points in the third quarter and shot its lead out to 19 points. The Braves increased it to 22 in the fourth and held it there until the Warriors carved into it a bit with a late flurry.
Swing man Cole Watts poured in 29 points for Montezuma and guard Trey Shearer scored 26.
Watts was 11-for-14 shooting. He was six-for-nine on treys, and didn’t miss any of his five two-point shots.
Shearer was 10-for-18, heating up after a cold first quarter start. He nailed four three-pointers.
Post man Eddie Burgess came through with another double-double: 16 points and 11 rebounds.
The Braves didn’t get a fourth man into doubles, but senior guard Brayden Arendt was close with nine points.
Coach Dennis “Digger” Phelps’ HLV team starts an all-senior lineup and the Warriors gave a great effort in their final game.
Carson Cheney scored 29 points. Reed Ward had 18, all on three-pointers. And Brody Wolf, a 6-3 senior, scored 16 for the Warriors, who closed at 7-17.
Trey Shearer dished 10 assists for the Braves and in the process set a new school record for career assists. He also had eight rebounds.
Burgess and Watts had five assists each.
Arendt was involved in just about everything. In addition to his scoring, he had four rebounds, a three-pointer, two assists and three steals.
The Braves played without freshman starter Masin Shearer. But freshmen Owen Cook and Gavin Strong filled those minutes, with Strong dropping in a trey.
“We have been fighting illness on our team, so we were a little tired and I thought it showed,” Dengler said.
“We’ll try to get healthy and keep moving forward.”
UP NEXT – The Braves (20-2) host 12-9 North Mahaska on Tuesday, Feb. 25, in the district semifinals. Tip-off: 8 p.m. after the other semifinal, matching Keota and BGM, which starts at 6:30.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
HLV 10 20 19 24 – 73
Montezuma 18 20 30 15 – 83
MONTEZUMA (83) – Brydon Henning 0-0, 0-0, 1, 0. Brayden Arendt 3-5, 2-3, 2, 9. Connor Van Zee 0-0, 0-0, 0, 0. Cole Watts 11-14, 1-3, 1, 29. Joey Kercheval 0-0, 0-0, 1, 0. Maguire DeJong 0-0, 0-0, 1, 0. Trey Shearer 10-18, 2-2, 1, 26. Colton Benson 0-0, 0-0, 0, 0. Owen Cook 0-0, 0-0, 0, 0. Gavin Strong 1-3, 0-0, 2, 3. Eddie Burgess 7-8, 2-4, 3, 16. Brody Chidester 0-0, 0-0, 0, 0. TOTALS – 32-48, 7-12, 11, 83.
HLV (73)
TOTALS – 28-55, 4-5, 13, 73.
Line score legend: Field goals made-attempted, free throws made-attempted, personal fouls, total points.
Turnovers: Montezuma 12, HLV 13.
Rebounds: Montezuma 25 (Burgess 11, T. Shearer 8, Arendt 4, Henning 1, Kercheval 1); HLV 20.
Three-point goals: Montezuma 12-22 (Watts 6, T. Shearer 4, Arendt 1, Strong 1); HLV 13-27.
Assists: T. Shearer 10, Burgess 5, Watts 5, Arendt 2, Strong 1.
Steals: Arendt 3, Burgess 3, T. Shearer 1, Chidester 1.
Deflections: T. Shearer 1, Burgess 1.
