GRINNELL – Beating any team three times in a season is a difficult task. Mix in your rival and a substate final berth on the line and you can expect a lot of emotion and excitement. North Mahaska rallied from a 12-point deficit in the third quarter and held Montezuma to just three baskets in the fourth to advance to the substate final with a 66-57 win.
North Mahaska (21-3) will now face sixth-ranked Gladbrook-Reinbeck (21-3) in Marshalltown Saturday, with the winner advancing to the state tournament.
The game opened with North Mahaska’s Asher DeBoef hitting a 3-pointer nine seconds into the game then it was nearly five and a half minutes before they would score again. Meanwhile, Montezuma scored 11 unanswered points. By the end of the period the Braves led 21-14. Each team hit three treys in the second quarter as Montezuma retained the seven-point margin at halftime.
“They are a very quality opponent,” said NM senior Gabe Hora. “At the beginning of the game we did not start out well but we were able to claw back and then we were ahead we were able to stay ahead with our defense.”
Midway through the third period Montezuma had powered their lead to 44-32. At 3 minute 10 second mark DeBoef hit a 3-pointer and Gabe Hora added another to close the gap. Montezuma’s Kohen Holland got an offensive rebound and outback as the quarter came to an end for a 46-38 lead.
Montezuma’s Brady Boulton, who scored a game-high 30 points, hit a basket off a steal to start the final period. Hora answered with a trey to close the gap and Holland hit another jumper. Holland hit another basket and free throw with 5:13 to play for a 53-44 lead. Hora then hit two 3-pointers in a span of 30 seconds and Lucas Nunnikhoven added one from the corner to tie the game at 53-53.
With 3:23 to play, a foul was whistled on Montezuma and the scorer’s table said it was the fifth foul sending Hora to the line for two shots he his one for a 54-53 lead. With 2:49 there was a stoppage of play on a turnover and the officials went to the scorer’s bench where it was discovered there were only four team fouls on Monte and the point was taken away.
“Kind of a weird situation,” said Warhawk coach Kevin Kelderman. “They gave Montezuma two team fouls on their fourth team foul, so we shot free throws when it was really their fourth team foul. According to the rules if there has not been a stoppage of play other than when its finally stopped and talked about, they can go back and take points off the board. That’s the rule but why don’t we get the ball then? We had possession and they took away our possession.”
A minute later DeBoef grabs a rebound and puts it up and is fouled. He completed the traditional 3-point play to put NM up 56-53 and forcing a Montezuma timeout.
“I told them we had to keep our composure and get stops,” said Kelderman. “I keep it simple. If they don’t score, we are going to win. We talked a little bit about what we were going to do with Brady by blitzing him and double team him a little bit more. The rebounds were huge. Holland is such a good rebounder we had to try to keep him off the boards.”
North Mahaska forced Montezuma to foul and the Warhawks hit 11-of-15 in the final period. Meanwhile the defense kept the Braves from scoring for four and a half minutes. In the final 4:14 Montezuma managed a pair of baskets and two free throws.
“It was a great ballgame,” said Kelderman. “Obviously the kids played a big fourth quarter defensively and offensively. We put up a lot of points in the fourth quarter but we also played a heck of a defensive quarter. Put those two things together and good things are going to happen.
DeBoef finished the night as the leading scorer for the Warhawks with 19 points and nine rebounds. Lucas Nunnikhoven added 14 and Hora added 12 with six rebounds and six assists. Adrain Smith added eight points and seven rebounds while Trenton DeBruin scored seven with six rebounds and blocked a shot.
Kelderman said it was the first half rebounding from DeBruin that kept the Warhawks in the game.
“Trenton was huge in the first half, especially just keeping us in it,” said Kelderman. “They were taking it to us in the first half and he came in and grabbed some key rebounds.”
Kelderman said the big shots are a major part of this team’s personality.
“It’s contagious,” said Kelderman. “I say hitting is contagious in baseball and shooting is contagious in basketball. Once Gabe hit one, then Lucas hit one in the corner, but Gabe hitting those shots was huge. We moved Jack up and said go be a screener and see if we could get him some looks.”
Hora said, “Because we needed a spark on offense I was trying to get us back into the game. I kind of got into a zone and my teammates got me the basketball and let it fly.”
Holland scored 19 points and 13 rebounds.
Facing Gladbrook-Reinbeck will be a tall challenge for the Warhawks.
“They are highly ranked and you are going to face good teams at this point,” said Kelderman. “I think they are pretty strong inside. So, it could be kind of a battle of different styles. They are pretty big. It’s going to be a test for us.”
