NEW SHARON – North Mahaska used superior height and timely three-point shooting, then held off a charge by Montezuma to score a 68-66 win over the Braves Tuesday night in an intense season basketball opener for both teams.
Trey Shearer led Montezuma’s fourth quarter flurry and finished with 37 points. But he was the only Braves player in double figures.
Nash Smith, 6-5, and Addy Bollman, 6-4, made rebounds hard to come by for Montezuma, which doesn’t have a player in its rotation taller than 6-1.
The Braves sagged off defensively, daring North Mahaska to shoot over the top. The Warhawks, especially Dylan Klinker, did – and hit. And Montezuma had trouble rebounding when he or teammates missed.
Montezuma did make 14 treys in the game, which basically kept the Braves in contention for three quarters. But Montezuma found it difficult to squeeze off inside shots against the rangy Warhawk defense.
Montezuma fell behind 6-0 at the start, then outscored the Warhawks 18-4 the rest of the quarter to lead 18-10 at the break.
But North Mahaska erupted for 24 points in the second quarter, then extended the lead to eight points during the second half. Then, Trey Shearer led Montezuma’s late bid, which saw the Braves briefly lead by a point at about the 1:30 mark.
COME BACK to this website later, when we’ll have more detail and a statistical overview of this one.
UP NEXT – The Braves host PCM on Thursday, Dec. 3.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Montezuma 18 13 14 21 – 66
North Mahaska 10 24 16 18 – 68
MONTEZUMA (66)
Cam Johnson 1-2, 2-2, 4, 5. Masin Shearer 2-8, 0-0, 1, 7. Cole Watts 3-11, 2-4, 3, 9. Trey Shearer 13-25, 4-11, 3, 37. Owen Cook 0-1, 0-0, 3, 0. Dakota Strong 1-1, 3-4, 0, 6. Joey Kercheval 0-0, 0-0, 0, 0. TOTALS – 20-48, 11-21, 14, 66.
NORTH MAHASKA (68)
TOTALS – 25-60, 11-21, 23, 68.
Line score legend: Field goals made-attempted, free throws made-attempted, personal fouls, total points.
Turnovers: Montezuma 6, North Mahaska 12.
Three-point goals: Montezuma 13-26 (T. Shearer 7-10, M. Shearer 3-6, Strong 1-1, Johnson 1-2, Cook 0-1, Watts 1-6).
Rebounds: North Mahaska 44, Montezuma 33 (Watts 9, Cook 9, T. Shearer 8, Johnson 2, Kercheval 2, Strong 1, team 2).
Assists: (11) – T. Shearer 4, M. Shearer 2, Johnson 1, Watts 1, Cook 2, Strong 1.
Steals: 5 (S. Shearer 4, M. Shearer 1).