There’s an old bromide that states it’s hard to beat the same basketball team three times in one year.
But if you’re in the South Iowa Cedar League and you have designs on playing in the state tournament, you better figure on having to do it.
And, it has been done.
Montezuma’s boys need to beat North Mahaska for a third time if the Braves are to get out of town to play any more games.
The Braves and Warhawks meet in Montezuma about 8 p.m. Tuesday evening, Feb. 25, in a District 9 Class 1A semifinal game.
It’s the second of two semis in Montezuma on Tuesday. Keota plays BGM at 6:30.
The winners advance to the regional championship game in Williamsburg on Thursday, Feb. 27.
The Braves, now 20-2, beat North Mahaska, now 11-9. by a score of 79-48 way back on Dec. 3. It was tougher, but Montezuma prevailed again, 58-39, on Jan. 27.
Since then, the Warhawks have won seven of their nine games.
The Braves led by just six points at halftime of the more recent game. They turned up the heat on defense – allowing the Warhawks just 12 second half points – and provided more looks for guard Trey Shearer, who poured in 35 points in all.
Coach Derrick Dengler of the Braves said North Mahaska’s length inside clogged his team’s passing lanes in the first half. But, a quicker tempo in the second half made a difference.
There are four juniors and three freshmen in North Mahaska’s top seven. Six of them average between 6.6 and 9.8 points a game, so all are threats.
Braden Steel, a 6-3 freshman, is the leading scorer at 9.8 and has the best shooting percentage at .576.
Blake Readshaw, a 6-0 junior, has 43 steals, and 5-8 junior Dylan Klinker has dished 68 assists.
A story about the Braves and their totals on the season appears as an advance story about the HLV game elsewhere on this website.