When the Montezuma Braves step on the gas, their basketball machine responds with a V-R-O-O-O-M!
The unbeaten Braves beat winless HLV, 78-42, at home Tuesday evening, Dec. 10.
Montezuma led 24-7 after one quarter, 50-14 at halftime and 73-27 through three quarters.
“Our defense was active in the first half,” Coach Derrick Dengler said. “Our deflections and steals turned into easy points.”
And the points just kept coming.
Junior guard Trey Shearer poured in 27 of them and in the process passed the 1,000-points mark for his career.
“A special shout-out goes to Trey,” Dengler said. “He works really hard.”
Montezuma in general has been shooting very well. The Braves were at .588 from the field in this game, and they went nine-for-nine from the free throw line.
“That (shooting) has been tremendous for us so far,” Dengler said.
Trey Shearer was 10-for-17 from the field. He added six assists and five steals.
Cole Watts was super-sharp, too, with 20 points on eight-for-nine shooting. He had four assists and three steals.
Masin Shearer was a third Brave into twin figures with 14 points, which included a team-high four three-pointers. He also had three assists, two steals and three deflections.
Eddie Burgess scored nine points and led the Braves with seven rebounds.
The team now sets its sights on what Dengler calls “a good BGM team” Friday evening, Dec. 13, in Brooklyn.
“We’ll be looking to improve our boxing out and rebounding,” the coach said. “We’ll want to continue to be sharp defensively, and on offense we’ll look be sharper on our passing.”
“What we’re looking for,” Dengler said, “is to keep growing.”
The Braves are 4-0, while HLV fell to 0-4.
UP NEXT – As noted above, Montezuma visits BGM on Friday, Dec. 13.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
HLV 7 7 13 15 – 42
Montezuma 24 26 23 5 – 78
MONTEZUMA (78): Brydon Henning 1-2, 0-0, 1, 2. Brayden Arendt 0-1, 2-2, 0, 2. Masin Shearer 5-8, 4-7, 0, 14. Connor Van Zee 0-0, 0-0, 0, 0. Cole Watts 8-9, 2-2, 2, 20. Maguire DeJong 0-0, 0-0, 1, 0. Trey Shearer 10-17, 5-5, 2, 27. Colton Benson 0-0, 0-0, 0, 0. Brody Chidester 1-1, 0-0, 1, 2. Owen Cook 0-0, 0-0, 0, 0. Gavin Strong 1-3, 0-0, 2, 3. Eddie Burgess 4-7, 0-0, 2, 9. Joey Kercheval 1-3, 0-0, 2, 2. TOTALS – 30-51, 9-9, 13, 78.
HLV (42)
TOTALS: 17-37, 6-11, 9, 42.
Line score legend: Field goals made-attempted, free throws made-attempted, personal fouls, total points.
Rebounds: Montezuma 18 (Burgess 7, T. Shearer 3); HLV 16.
Turnovers: Montezuma 9, HLV 19.
Three-point goals: Montezuma 10-24 (M. Shearer 4, Watts 2, T. Shearer 2, Strong 1, Burgess 1); HLV 3-8.
Braves assists leaders: T. Shearer 6, Watts 4, M. Shearer 3, Burgess 2, Chidester 1.
Braves steals leaders: T. Shearer 5, Watts 3, M. Shearer 2, Cook 1, Burgess 1.
Braves deflections leaders: M. Shearer 3, Burgess 2.