DES MOINES – High school basketball games don’t get much better than this!
The Montezuma Braves, cranking up their defense and rebounding in the second half – after putting on an offensive display in the first – scored a 64-61 win in overtime over previously unbeaten and second-seeded Lake Mills on Monday afternoon, March 8.
It was a quarterfinals win in the Class 1A state tournament at Wells Fargo Arena. It means the Braves, now 23-2, will play again (8 p.m.) on Wednesday against #3 Grand View Christian (21-1), a 64-59 winner over Remsen St. Mary’s on Monday.
“I am very proud of our team for their passion and effort,” Braves Coach Derrick Dengler said.
It was a match between a tall (6-6, 6-4, 6-3) and strong Lake Mills front line, and the more guard-oriented Braves, who happen to have a moving mountain in the middle in 6-4 Eddie Burgess.
Trey Shearer scored 25 points for the Braves, including four three-pointers. Cole Watts scored 18. Eddie Burgess had 14, and Masin Shearer scored seven.
The Braves’ changing defenses didn’t allow Lake Mills’ leading scorer, 6-3 Dashawn Linnen, a basket. He shot six times, and wound up with one free throw. But Ryan Huston, a 6-3 senior guard with a three-point scoring average, did almost enough to do in the Braves. Huston scored a team-high 19 points, on seven-for-nine shooting that included five-for-seven on three-pointers.
The Braves set the tone early with their fluid motion offense getting them good looks at the basket. Montezuma led 25-19 after one quarter, but had been ahead by as many as nine points.
The Lake Mills big men, who passed the ball well on the inside, came back in the second quarter and the Bulldogs had the lead at 40-37 just before the end of the half.
But Trey Shearer threw up a buzzer-beating three ball from a different area code, sending the Braves off with a 40-40 tie, and a big emotional lift.
Wyatt Helming, 6-6, wound up with 16 points and 12 rebounds. Caleb Bacon, a powerful 6-4, scored 17 points and had 10 rebounds.
The Braves improved their defense and rebounding in the second half.
Trailing 17-9 on the boards at halftime, Montezuma tied the Bulldogs at 13-13 in the second half.
The Braves had just seven turnovers, to nine by Lake Mills. But four of those, all for traveling, hurt the Bulldogs in the third quarter, which ended with Montezuma leading 41-39.
Trey Shearer stung the strings with a three-ball to tie the score at 58-58 with two minutes left in regulation.
Lake Mills ran clock after an in-bounds pass with 44 seconds left. The Bulldogs took it down to five seconds, then Watts blocked a Huston three-pointer, but the ball went out of bounds with 2.6 seconds left, and it was ruled Lake Mills ball.
The Bulldogs got a great look for Helming from 15 feet out, left side, but the shot missed.
In overtime, the Braves got a quick basket from Eddie Burgess on a feed off a drive from Masin Shearer.
Burgess scored a second hoop with a right hand scoop after Lake Mills’ long-armed defense got a hand on a pass.
Watts extended Montezuma’s lead to 64-59 with two free throws on the one-and-one with 48.5 seconds left.
Burgess then blocked a shot by Bennett Berger, knocking the ball out of bounds with 36.7 seconds left.
The Bulldogs worked a set play on the in-bounds and got a layup to cut the Braves’ lead to three.
Trey Shearer missed on the front end of a one-and-bonus with 29.8 seconds left and Lake Mills called time with 12.4 seconds left.
Montezuma applied severe pressure on the in-bounds, which went to Linnen. The ball was mishandled and went out of bounds to the Braves with 1.1 second left.
Burgess stepped up to throw it in, and if you follow Montezuma, you had a pretty good idea of what was coming next.
Burgess, long to Trey Shearer . . .complete!
No touchdown, but one of the biggest wins in recent Montezuma athletic history was a final.
UP NEXT – The Braves move into the semifinals on Wednesday against Grand View Christian. Tip off is at 8 p.m.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Montezuma 25 15 11 7 6 – 64
Lake Mills 19 21 9 9 3 – 61
MONTEZUMA (64)
Cam Johnson 0-1, 0-0, 1, 0. Masin Shearer 3-8, 0-0, 1, 7. Cole Watts 6-12, 4-5, 3, 18. Trey Shearer 9-16, 2-3, 2, 25. Eddie Burgess 7-11, 0-0, 2, 14. Owen Cook 0-0, 0-0, 0, 0. Gavin Strong 0-0, 0-0, 0, 0. TOTALS – 25-38, 6-8, 9, 64.
LAKE MILLS (61)
Dashawn Linnen 0-6, 1-2, 1, 1. Bennett Berger 2-4, 0-0, 0, 2. Ryan Huston 7-9, 0-0, 3, 19. Wyatt Helming 8-17, 0-0, 2, 16. Caleb Bacon 7-13, 3-3, 3, 17. AJ Ramaker 0-0, 0-0, 0, 0. Kadin Abele 0-1, 0-0, 0, 0. Denton Kingland 1-3, 0-0, 1, 3. TOTALS – 25-53, 4-5, 12, 61.
Line score legend: Field goals made-attempted, free throws made-attempted, personal foul, total points.
Turnovers: Montezuma 7, Lake Mills 9.
Three-point goals: Montezuma 8-19 (T. Shearer 5-8, Watts 2-7, M. Shearer 1-4); Lake Mills 7-19 (R. Huston 5-7, Bennett Berger 1-1, Denton Kingland 1-3, Dashawn Linnen 0-3, Wyatt Helming 0-4, Kadin Abele 0-1).
Rebounds: Montezuma 22 (Burgess 9, T. Shearer 6, Strong 2, Team 2, Johnson 1, M. Shearer 1, Watts 1); Lake Mills 30 (Helming 12, Bacon 10, Linnen 6, Huston 1, Team 1).
Assists: Montezuma 11 (M. Shearer 4, Watts 3, T. Shearer 2, Burgess 2); Lake Mills 14 (Berger 6, Bacon 5, Linnen 1, Helming 1, Kingland 1).
Blocks: Montezuma 3 (Burgess 2, Watts 1); Lake Mills 5 (Helming 3, Linnen 1, Huston 1).
Steals: Montezuma 3 (Burgess 2, Cook 1); Lake Mills 3 (Bacon 3).