Coleton Tompkins and Brady Losure apply pressure
to an HLV ballhandler.

Braves can't crack a quick HLV zone 
Jan. 3, 2012

VICTOR - HLV threw up a quick-moving 2-3 zone, the Braves couldn't hit over it, and Montezuma's night grew increasingly frustrating.

The Warriors held the Braves to 16 points through three quarters, dictated tempo and got a 42-28 win over Montezuma on Tuesday evening, Jan. 3.

The Braves shot just 24 percent from the field (9-for-37 overall) and were just 4-for-20 (20 percent) from behind the three-point line.

"They did a nice job in their zone. They forced us to be a perimeter team," said Montezuma coach Derek Schulte. "We didn't attack the gaps. We didn't get penetration with the pass or dribble," the coach said.

But Schulte wasn't ready to just flush the memory of this game.

"We can use the next two days to get better," Schulte said. "We can use it as a teaching point in part of a process to get better."

The Warriors were 3-5 coming in but have played some teams tough. Cole Lahndorf and Tanner Strudthoff were two who were quick in closing out front on the zone. At 6-5, Derek Cavin gave the Warriors a solid post presence, as did Joe Stiefel, with Matt Merical giving the Warriors a long body and good athleticism in the middle.

Cavin scored 18 points to lead HLV, while Stiefel came in with 9. HLV shot 48 percent from the field on 14 makes out of a disciplined 29 attempts.

HLV led 6-5 after one quarter, 18-10 at halftime and 31-16 through three periods.

The Braves managed to force some up-tempo action during fourth quarter play, but it was too late to generate a serious run.

"We didn't have many opportunities to set up our press," Schulte said. "We need made field goals to give us time to do that and we didn't have many made field goals.  We also need points in the paint, and we didn't get many of those."

Stephen Vavroch scored 13 points, all in the second half, to lead Montezuma, which fell to 5-5 overall and to 4-4 in league play.

"We have a high upside with this team," Schulte said. "We can use nights like this to get better and if we do, nights like this will not come around very often."

WATCH IT! - at 1 and 7 p.m. on Thursday and Friday on Local Channel 3, with Keith Brake and Zach Price bringing home the action.

JVs WIN - Montezuma's junior varsity boys won 27-20 in an adjacent gym. There was no JV girls' game because of lack of numbers in the HLV program.

NEXT UP - The Braves host Tri-County on Friday.

SCORE BY QUARTERS
Montezuma   5    5    6   12  -  28
HLV              6   12  13  11  -  42

MONTEZUMA (28): Brady Losure 1, 0-0, 0, 3. Dillon Wilhelm 0, 0-0, 2, 0. Zach Gibson 1, 1-4, 3, 3. Codi Townsend 0, 0-0, 0, 0. Tyler Swenson 0, 0-0, 1, 0. Dallas Peavy 0, 0-0, 1, 0. Kane Barker 0, 2-2, 2, 2. Coleton Tompkins 2, 0-0, 2, 5. Colton Talbert 0, 0-0, 0, 0. Stephen Vavroch 4, 3-3, 4, 13. Nathan Wheeler 0, 0-0, 2, 0. Matt Armstrong 0, 0-2, 1, 0. Niall Lyons 1, 0-0, 0, 2. TOTALS: 9, 6-11, 18, 28.

HLV (42): Tanner Strudthoff 1, 0-1, 2, 2. Matt Merical 1, 3-4, 2, 5. Cole Lahndorf 2, 3-4, 1, 7. Trent Maschmann 0, 0-0, 2, 0. Rhett Thys 0, 1-2, 0, 1. Derek Cavin 7, 4-6, 2, 18. Joe Stifel 3, 2-3, 2, 9. Tanner DeBrower 0, 0-0, 1, 0. TOTALS: 14, 13-20, 12, 42.

Three-point goals: Montezuma 4 (Vavroch 2, Tompkins 1, Losure 1). HLV 1 (Stiefel 1).
Fouled out: none.
Turnovers: Montezuma 12, HLV 15.
Braves rebound leader: Wheeler 7.
Assists leader: Vavroch 3.
Steals leader: Gibson 3.

Line score legend: Field goals made, free throws made-attempted, personal fouls, total points.

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