MONTEZUMA – North Mahaska senior Gabe Horas hit three-of-four free throws in the final 21.1 seconds, and they proved to be winners in the Warhawks’ 59-56 victory over Montezuma on Friday evening, Jan. 24.
The action-filled game was played in front of a noisy packed house in Montezuma. There was one instance in the fourth quarter where players from both teams tumbled across the floor while going for the basketball. Play was stopped for a time while managers wiped perspiration from the floor.
Horas’ first two free throws put North Mahaska up by five points with 21.1 seconds left. Montezuma’s Brady Boulton got a three-point shot up quickly – and it splashed down, cutting the lead to two.
With seconds left on the inbound, Horas was fouled. He made the first free throw to put the lead back to three, and Montezuma didn’t have time to get a good shot to try and tie the game.
Horas led the Warhawks with 18 points and Asher DeBoef scored 15.
Brady Boulton scored 22 for the Braves. That’s good, but 8 under his 30-point average. On this night he didn’t get quite enough scoring help.
Post forward Kohen Holland scored 9 points, and also added 10 rebounds.
Dane Strong scored 8 for the Braves.
Lukas Nunnikhoven had the main defensive assignment on Boulton and he made shooting and moving on the offensive end a bit of a challenge for the Braves’ scoring ace.
Montezuma shot .411 from the field to North Mahaska’s .339. The Braves scored 4 more baskets than the Warhawks, but made 14 fewer free throws.
The Braves shot 3 free throws, including just one by the five starters.
Boulton added 7 rebounds, 6 assists and 4 steals to his night’s stat totals.
The Warhawks had four double figures scorers in this game. The 5-9 Asher DeBoef scored 16 points and ran down 18 rebounds. He also dished 3 assists.
We told you Horas scored 18 points. Adrian Smith had 11 and Nunnkihoven scored 10. Smith added 8 rebounds.
North Mahaska had a 35-24 edge in rebounding.
North Mahaska is 14-2 on the season.
Montezuma fell to 13-2.
Neither team entered the game rated in the state. But because they’re both in Class 1A in boys play, they could wind up facing each other for a third time in the post-season.
The girls teams from the two schools could, because North Mahaska is in Class 2A in girls play, while Montezuma is in Class 1A for both boys and girls.
Back on Dec. 6, North Mahaska beat Montezuma 58-46. Since then, the Braves had earned enough respect from BCMoore Rankings to be favored by 4.58 points in this game.
NEXT WEEK – Montezuma’s teams are at BGM on Tuesday and host Colfax-Mingo on Friday.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
North Mahaska 11 12 19 17 – 59
Montezuma 19 4 16 17 – 56
MONTEZUMA (56) – Dane Strong 3-8, 0-0, 3, 8; David Rose 3-7, 0-0, 2, 6. Brady Boulton 9-18, 0-0, 4, 22; Kohen Holland 4-8, 0-1, 3, 9; Max Anderson 2-9, 0-0, 1, 4; Easton Hudnut 0-0, 0-0, 0, 0; Luke Brennan 2-5, 0-0, 3, 5; Broox Stockman 0-1, 2-2, 2, 2. TOTALS – 23-56, 2-3, 18, 56.
NORTH MAHASKA (59) – TOTALS – 19-56, 11-17, 12, 59.
LINESCORE LEGEND – field goals made-attempted, free throws made-attempted, personal fouls, total points.
Three-pointers: Montezuma 8-32 (Boulton 4-11, Strong 2-7, Holland 1-2, Brennan 1-4, Rose 0-3, Anderson 0-5). NM 10-32.
Turnovers: Montezuma 12, North Mahaska 10.
Rebounds: Montezuma 24 (Holland 10, Boulton 7, Rose 3, Anderson 2, Strong 1, Stockman 1); North Mahaska 35.
Assists: Montezuma 10 (Boulton 6, Strong 1, Holland 1, Anderson 1, Rose 1); North Mahaska 9.
Steals: Montezuma 7 (Boulton 4, Rose 1, Holland 2); NM – 5.
Blocks: Montezuma 3 (Strong 1, Boulton 1, Holland 1); NM 1.