WAYLAND – When that final loss comes, you walk off wanting more.
It’s only natural.
In a battle of teams that led with their defenses, the quickness of WACO – of hand and foot – prevailed over Montezuma.
The Warriors beat the Braves, 46-42, outscoring Montezuma 17-4 over the last 6:30 of play, after the Braves led by 9 points early in the fourth quarter.
The Thursday night, Feb. 17 district semi-final game was played in front of a noisy, packed-in crowd.
Both teams were 18-4 coming in.
It marked the end of the sterling four-year varsity career of Montezuma’s Eddie Burgess, the Braves’ all-time leading rebounder.
Other senior Braves are Nik Kotar, Jeremy Williams, Sawyer Tindle, Camden Michalek and Ryan Cheney.
“I am proud of what we have accomplished,” said Braves Coach Derrick Dengler. “I’m disappointed with how it ended this year.”
Yes, overall the Braves were young, but WACO is even younger, with a potent sophomore class leading the way for the Warriors.
WACO looked the part at the start, falling behind Montezuma 7-0 late in the first quarter.
Gradually, WACO’s confidence grew, as the Warriors had some success defending Montezuma.
But both teams defended well. The Braves shot just .341 from the field, to WACO’s .372.
In the first half, Montezuma’s tight man-to-man defense forced off-balance shots and some hurried attempts.
The Braves were outside-oriented, after not being able to find open entry passes. That continued, and wound up being important during the stretch run.
Gavin Strong was able to connect off short drives and scored 10 first half points as the Braves led 20-18 at intermission.
The Braves pulled their defense out a little further from the basket in the third quarter. That produced some deflections and steals – and a Montezuma run.
Kotar’s steal and Euro-step drive to the basket put Montezuma up 35-27 late in the third quarter.
WACO spread its defense in the fourth quarter. The Braves too often dribbled into tight spaces and the Warriors stole the ball.
In transition, the Warriors beat the Braves to the baseline, and short jumpers started falling. WACO got its first lead of the game with 5:30 left to play.
A steal, followed by a trey by Simeon Reichenbach, put the Warriors up 42-38. After that, they went into a weave on offense, killing clock and forcing the Braves to foul.
Three offensive rebounds on one possession led to a foul with 27.8 seconds left, and Kotar made two free throws to cut the deficit to 44-42.
Single free throws at 19.4 seconds and with 6 seconds sealed the win for the Warriors.
Strong paced the Braves with 16 points, including a pair of three-pointers in the second half.
Kotar scored 12, seven of them in the second half. He was 5-for-5 from the line after intermission.
Burgess scored 9 points and Owen Cook scored 5 for Montezuma.
Burgess had another big night on the defensive glass and grabbed 17 rebounds in all. He also blocked 4 shots.
The WACO season will continue on Tuesday.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Montezuma 9 11 17 5 – 42
WACO 4 14 11 17 – 46
MONTEZUMA (42) – Gavin Strong 7-18, 0-2, 2, 16. Garrett Watts 0-0, 0-0, 0, 0. Maguire De Jong 0-0, 0-0, 4, 0. Nik Kotar 3-10, 5-6, 2, 12. Colton Benson 0-0, 0-0, 0, 0. Owen Cook 2-7, 0-0, 2, 5. Eddie Burgess 2-4, 5-6, 3, 9. TOTALS – 14-41, 10-14, 13, 42.
WACO – (46) – TOTALS – 16-43, 11-17, 12, 46.
Line score legend: Field goals made-attempted, free throws made-attempted, personal fouls, total points.
Turnovers: Montezuma 9, WACO 9.
Rebounds: Montezuma 28 (Burgess 17, Kotar 6, Cook 2, Strong 1, Watts 1, De Jong 1); WACO 24.
Assists: Montezuma 6 (Strong 2, De Jong 2, Kotar 1, Burgess 1).
Steals: Montezuma 6 (Kotar 3, Burgess 2, Strong 1); WACO 1.
Blocks: Montezuma 4 (Burgess 4); WACO 2.