Seeding snub fuels Montezuma’s revenge

DES MOINES - They already had beaten the ‘3' and the ‘2,' so the Montezuma Braves figured they might as well go out and beat the ‘1' Friday and become the one. The state championship one.

Montezuma built a double-digit lead in the second quarter and held on to topple North Linn, 44-41, in the Class 1A boys basketball title game at Wells Fargo Arena.

The Braves felt snubbed seeded seventh in an eight-team field and used that as motivation. Montezuma's Trey Shearer, who is headed to play for former University of Iowa star guard Jeff Horner at Division II Truman State, scored 25 to beat second-seeded Lake Mills in an overtime quarterfinal. Six-foot-4 Eddie Burgess out-rebounded 7-foot Daniel Tobiloba to brush away third-seeded Grand View Christian 49-35 in the semifinals, and now this.

'We had a really tough journey,” said Montezuma's Cole Watts. 'I'm full of emotion right now.”

'We talked about it all week, us embracing the ‘7' seed,” said Shearer, captain of the 1A all-tournament team. 'We thought we were a little overlooked.”

The Braves nearly didn't make it to state. In a substate semifinal, Montezuma had to get past Keota (20-3) and the Eagles gave the state champions their closest postseason game. Shearer hit a shot with six seconds remaining to advance with a 53-51 win.

While Keota loses nine seniors from this year's team, North Linn does not have a senior in the starting lineup. Three of five starting Braves are seniors.

'Experience is important, but being a senior means something a little bit different,” North Linn coach Mike Hilmer said. 'I think that was maybe the difference at the beginning.”

The Lynx (27-1) are 134-4 over the last four seasons with three of the losses in state championship games. The Lynx won the 2A title in 2019.

Shearer, whose late basket against Keota gave him a total of nine points in that game, is a special player, a four-year starter at point guard, who finished his career with 2,299 points. He had 13 in his final prep game,

But this was a team deal. Fellow senior Cole Watts added 10 points to finish with over 1,300 in his career, and junior Burgess had eight points, 12 rebounds and four blocked shots.

They were the main catalysts in a three-year run for Montezuma (25-2) that included a third-place state finish last year and a fourth place in 2019. Burgess missed most of this season with a knee injury sustained in a 108-94 loss in a state semifinal football game. He threw nine touchdown passes, seven to Shearer, two to Watts and ran for four more.

'(His absence) made everybody realize how important Eddie is,” said Montezuma coach Derrick Dengler. 'I think he brings up a level of teammate, don't know exactly how to describe it. Unselfishness, and that kind of flows through the team.”

Unheralded starter Cam Johnson had a pair of fourth-quarter layups and clutched up for a huge pair of one-and-one free throws with 11.1 seconds left in a one-point game. Burgess blocked Hilmer's tying 3-point attempt out of bounds with 2.6 left, then Hilmer missed a very heavily contested trey from the corner.

That summed up the game for North Linn (27-1), which shot just 34 percent from the field.

'We kind of came out rattled at times, took some bad shots here and there, and they didn't,” Coach Hilmer said. 'I thought for 2 1/2 quarters, we outplayed them. We just got ourselves in too big of a hole.”

North Linn trailed by a 25-12 margin late in the second quarter and by 27-19 at the break. Double-team trapping defense allowed it to creep back within 31-30 late in the third, and it was a 40-39 game with just under three minutes left in the fourth. Tate Haughenbury had 13 points and Hilmer 11 for North Linn.

'Montezuma did a great job defensively this game,” Haughenbury said. 'Coach always told us to make them play a better game to beat us, and that's what happened. They made shots, we didn't play our best game, and they played a great game.”

Shearer, Burgess, Watts, Hilmer and Dylan Kurt were the 1A all-tournament team.

AT DES MOINES

MONTEZUMA (44): Cam Johnson 2-2 2-2 6, Masin Shearer 2-6 1-2 5, Cole Watts 4-10 0-0 10, Trey Shearer 5-10 2-2 13, Eddie Burgess 3-4 2-2 8, Owen Cook 1-3 0-0 2, Gavin Strong 0-1 0-0 0, Camden Michalek 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 17-37 7-8 44.

NORTH LINN (41): Ben Wheatley 3-9 0-0 8, Cade Haughenbury 1-5 0-0 2, Dylan Kurt 2-8 2-2 7, Austin Hilmer 5-14 0-0 11, Tate Haugenbury 5-11 3-4 13, Gunner Vanourney 0-0 0-0 0, Kaleb Kurt 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 16-47 5-6 41.

Halftime - Montezuma 27, North Linn 19. 3-point goals - Montezuma 3-11 (M. Shearer 0-2, Watts 2-5, T. Shearer 1-2, Cook 0-1, Strong 0-1), North Linn 4-18 (Wheatley 2-5, D. Kurt 1-4, Hilmer 1-8, T. Haughenbury 0-1). Rebounds - Montezuma 28 (Burgess 12), North Linn 23 (C. Haughenbury 8). Total fouls - Montezuma 12, North Linn 14. Fouled out - None. Assists - Montezuma 7 (Burgess 3), North Linn 7 (D. Kurt 4). Turnovers - Montezuma 13, North Linn 10.