A nail biting win in front of a home crowd was what Keota boys’ basketball fans experienced on Thursday when the Eagles hung on for a 49-47 South Iowa Cedar League victory over Lynnville-Sully (9-5).
Neither team could ever take control in this one with the Eagles up 19-13 after one, but it was cut to 26-23 at half. The back-and-forth trend continued in the final 16 minutes when Keota made one final stop for the cross divisional win. Keota shot 50% from the floor with Brady Duwa making all six of his shots to finish with 14 points and six assists. Luke Hammen added 13 points and eight rebounds.
A highly anticipated South Iowa Cedar League basketball matchup took place at North Mahaska High School on Friday with a pair of teams undefeated in the conference and Keota edged out a thriller 51-50.
The two evenly matched teams were tight throughout with the Eagles holding a slight 25-23 lead at half and 40-35 advantage after three. The Warhawks (7-2) clawed back after trailing by nine in the fourth, but a three point heave at the buzzer fell short and the Eagles escaped town with a victory. Carson Sprouse nailed three shots from behind the arc to finish with 19 points and Brady Duwa added 17 with five steals. Keota took care of the rock only coughing the ball up eight times. Head Coach Dan Stout credited his team’s defense. “Overall defensively I thought we did a really good job. We put some pressure on early and got a lot of steals. We did the right things at the right time to come out with the win.” They are now 10-0 overall and 8-0 in the SICL.
The 2020 portion of the schedule came to a close last week for the Keota basketball teams when the Eagles split a road doubleheader at Colfax-Mingo.
The Eagle boys led just 10-9 after one, but utilized a 25-10 second quarter to pull away from the Tigerhawks en route to a 70-44 conference victory. Carson Sprouse was electric from long range hitting six of nine shots from behind the arc to finish with a game-high 23 points. Brady Duwa had 19 points while Luke Hammen added 11 and five assists. They forced the Tigerhawks into 29 turnovers on the night.
The girls had their chances, but a tough fourth quarter resulted in a 49-42 loss. The game was tied 32-32 after three when the Tigerhawks (2-6) outscored Keota 17-10 in the final frame to seize the victory. Colfax-Mingo’s Brennan Rhone led all scorers with 19 points. Taylor Kindred had another strong performance for Keota by sinking six of eight shots for 15 points and hauling in 13 rebounds. Sky Weber added eight points and Bailey S
An area basketball matchup took place in Keota on Saturday afternoon and the Eagle boys utilized a big second half to surge past WACO 70-47.
The Eagles had a slight 26-21 advantage at the break, but made their move in the third with a 24-8 frame to stretch the lead out to 21 and the Warriors never threatened again. Keota senior Luke Hammen went off for 25 points including hitting four shots from long range. Carson Sprouse tallied 14 points and created eight steals while Brady Duwa had a double-double with 11 points and 13 boards. WACO connected on 49% of their shots to Keota’s 38%, but the difference was in the turnover margin with the Warriors coughing the ball up 34 times to just 10 for the Eagles. Hunter Hughes came off the bench to tally 13 points for the road team and Drew Diers added nine.