Keota’s offense overpowers Bears

KEOTA – On one side of the gym the players seemed to almost be skyscrapers ready to reach high into the sky. On the other side the younger group of smaller players were ready to take their chances against Golliath. 

This time Golliath seemed to win as Keota used their height and experienced play to defeat English Valleys 81-37. 

Early on the Bears, although undersized against the Eagles, weren’t afraid to challenge inside the lane for shots. 

For the first few minutes it seemed to work, too. The Bears and Eagles were tied at two for nearly a minute before the height advantage of Keota started to turn the game towards the Eagles. 

Keota was able to run inside the lane for easy rebounds on both sides of the floor. Once they had the ball they would often use court-wide passes to get the ball to an open player who was already past the defense that the English Valleys players had set up. 

With the advantages on both the inside and outside of the lane the Eagles were just beginning to spread their wings in the first quarter. 

A 13-0 run through the middle portion of the first quarter allowed Keota to not only get the lead, but sustain it. 

English Valleys wasn’t going to back down without a fight. At times, though, their fight was a little too aggressive as they were cited for several early fouls. That only allowed Keota to continue to extend their lead. 

With fouls piling up for the Bears they were forced to sit one of their better scorers, Everett Bender for much of the first half. 

With Bender on the sideline the Eagles were able to almost have free range on the floor for a portion of the second quarter. 

Although they were in control, the lead didn’t seem too big at halftime as the Eagles retired to their locker room, up 38-16 at halftime. 

“First of all, hats off to Keota, they’re a really good and solid basketball team,” said English Valleys head basketball coach Zach Weilbacher after the game. “We fell victim to the press that Keota likes to run a lot in the first half. At halftime we wanted to focus on hitting the middle guy and not get trapped along the sidelines.”

English Valleys used their youthful energy in abundance to start the new half. They out raced the press of Keota, and eventually forced the Eagles to back off their press a little. The shots started to fall early on, and it seemed as if the Bears were going to make a comeback. 

Keota, almost in a daze at the speed and consistency of the shots that English Valleys made, seemed to snap out of the early third quarter daze midway through the quarter. 

A three pointer by Billie Kindred was coupled up with a Chase Haifley steal and a quick pass to Jace Chalupa for the score. 

Just like that, the Eagles were taking flight again.

Keota scored 25 points in the third quarter. English Valleys finished with 15 points, but they still trailed by 32 points after the third quarter. 

Early on in the fourth quarter the Eagles were able to surpass the 35-point mark and the game started to accelerate. By the end of the fourth quarter Keota had pulled all of their starters. English Valleys never quit though and battled until the end of the game. 

For both teams the Dec. 10 game was a learning experience. Keota was able to get a taste on how to control the tempo of a game early on.

English Valleys was able to see what a team that has experience playing together can accomplish. 

“Keota does an excellent job of getting you to play the way they want you to play,” Weilbacher said. “We have to find a way of playing our game and not letting other teams dictate how we are going to play the game. We have to follow the gameplan that we come up with regardless of what the other team is doing.”

Billie Kindred led all scorers in the game. The Eagle senior was able to finish with 28 points. He also had 14 rebounds, four assists, four steals and two blocks. 

Jace Chalupa had 12 points with three rebounds and three steals. Jackson Vittetoe had 10 points with four rebounds, three assists, two steals. Chase Haifley had nine points with 10 assists, three rebounds and four steals. 

Ayden Galindo had eight points and eight rebounds. Blake Baker had five points. Porter Cave finished with four points. Brennan McGuire had three points. Landyn Greiner finished with two points. 

The Bears were led by Christian Tripses with 12 points. Kane Axmear had nine points. Roejert Patterson finished with six points. Both Everett Bender and Ben Axmear would finish with five points each. 

The Eagles move to 5-0 on the season. The Bears are 0-5 so far this year.