WILLIAMSBURG – You had to stand and applaud the effort.
Montezuma and Keota spent themselves trying to win the Class 1A district championship basketball game Tuesday evening, Feb. 23.
The Braves won it, 53-51, as Trey Shearer drove the lane for a contested layup with 6.4 seconds left to play.
Montezuma’s fans then held their collective breath as a three-point Keota shot from the wing rimmed three times and fell out. We’re not sure if it beat the buzzer. Anyway, it didn’t go in.
“I don’t think we played our best tonight,” said Montezuma Coach Derrick Dengler. “Lots of credit to Keota, who executed an effective game plan.”
Montezuma made big plays down the stretch to pull out the victory in a game that was played at a more deliberate pace, which was more to Keota’s liking.
“I did think to close out the game, we played hard defensively,” Dengler said. “In the half court, we forced Keota into tough shots. We rebounded well and had our playmakers make plays and, it was fortunately enough,” the coach said.
The win sends to the 21-2 Braves to Saturday’s sub-state game in Knoxville at 7 p.m. Their opponent will be 19-4 Mount Ayr, which was a 62-51 winner over Moravia.
Keota bowed out at 20-3, with two of the Eagles’ three losses to the Braves.
Keota rigged up a defense – a zone, mostly – that kept Montezuma scoring ace Trey Shearer without a point in the first half.
Shearer wound up with nine points, including the decisive final two – but he fired blanks early, or fired not at all.
Keota at times drove Montezuma’s offense deep into the wings. And when Trey Shearer gave up the basketball, he didn’t get it back.
Cole Watts and Eddie Burgess picked up the first half scoring slack. Watts hit four three-pointers and Burgess scored eight points as the Braves led 15-13 after one quarter and were tied 26-26 at halftime.
Watts wound up with 20 points, and he, Shearer and Burgess put up 23 second half points for Montezuma. Burgess totaled 14 points and 17 rebounds as the Braves had an important 29-19 edge on the boards. He also had four steals, two assists and a block. Of Burgess’ 17 rebounds, 14 were off the defensive glass.
Six-foot senior guards Luke Hammen and Carson Sprouse were heroic for Keota. Hammen scored 22 points and Spouse had 15. They dictated the pace of play and showed patience until they got good looks against a tight Montezuma defense.
The Braves involved others down the stretch. Forward Cam Johnson scored his only two baskets of the game during the final minute as he broke free on the back size of Keota’s zone, and perfect passes found his hands.
Earlier, Owen Cook ran free to open areas, and scored four in similar fashion. Masin Shearer also hit a key bucket from in the lane.
Montezuma got its first real separation of the game at 47-42 with 4:17 left, when Shearer passed inside to Burgess for a layup.
The Braves spread their offense after that, but Burgess picked up his fourth personal with 2:56 left to play, almost ensuring Montezuma would remain deliberate.
Keota tied the game at 51-51 with 21 seconds left.
The Braves waited for a good or a last shot. Trey Shearer saw an opening and filled it, and his basket accounted for the final two points.
Keota, aware of Montezuma’s three-point prowess, limited the Braves to four of those, all by Watts. The Eagles also dropped five from behind the arc, but just one after intermission.
Montezuma’s ball handling, excellent in recent games, slipped to 17 turnovers in this one. Keota had 14. “We need to tighten up our ball handling and decision-making with our passes,” Dengler said.
UP NEXT – Montezuma (21-2), plays Mount Ayr (19-4) at 7 p.m. Saturday in Knoxville in the sub-state game, with the winner advancing to the state tournament in Des Moines.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Keota 13 13 9 16 – 51
Montezuma 15 11 11 16 – 53
MONTEZUMA (53)
Cam Johnson 2-5, 0-0, 2, 4. Masin Shearer 1-5, 0-0, 1, 2. Cole Watts 6-13, 4-4, 1, 20. Trey Shearer 3-9, 3-5, 1, 9. Eddie Burgess 7-9, 0-0, 4, 14. Owen Cook 2-2, 0-0, 1, 4. Gavin Strong 0-3, 0-0, 1, 0. TOTALS 21-46, 7-9, 11, 53.
KEOTA (51)
TOTALS – 20-43, 6-10, 8, 51.
Line scored legend: Field goals made-attempted, free throws made-attempted, personal fouls, total points.
Turnovers: Keota 14, Montezuma 17.
Three-point goals: Keota 5-15, Montezuma 4-19 (Watts 4-9, T. Shearer 0-6, Johnson 0-1, M. Shearer 0-2, Strong 0-1).
Rebounds: Keota 19, Montezuma 29 (Burgess 17, Watts 5, T. Shearer 4, Johnson 2, Strong 1).
Assists: Montezuma 14 (Watts 5, M. Shearer 3, T. Shearer 3, Burgess 2, Strong 1).
Steals: Montezuma 8 (Burgess 4, T. Shearer 2, M. Shearer 1, Cook 1).
Blocks: Keota 1, Montezuma 1 (Burgess 1).
