Stout Stays Hot as Keota Falls to North Mahaska in Thriller

KEOTA—The Keota Eagles hosted the North Mahaska Warhawks, who are currently ranked 19th in 1A, on January 10 for a South Iowa Cedar league East vs West matchup. The Warhawks bested the Eagles by a final score of 69-64. 

The Eagles jumped out the gate scorching hot to the tune of a 25-13 lead after a quarter of play. The Warhawks stormed back by out-scoring the Eagles 14-6 to cut the Eagles lead down to 31-27 at halftime. The second half was a battle between these two teams. A response to every score to keep the game tight. Junior Sawyer Stout was lights out from behind the arc, as he hit three triples in this quarter. Stout’s big third quarter was not enough to keep up with the Warhawks, as the Warhawks took a 54-52 lead heading into the fourth quarter. The fourth quarter was all Warhawks, as they out-scored the Eagles 15-4 en route to a 69-64 victory over the Eagles.

Sawyer Stout led the Eagles with 21 points on an overall field goal percentage of 40%. Evan Vittetoe was the main pain presence for the Eagles, as he amassed eight rebounds on the night. Cole Kindred was the main facilitator with nine assists.

Keota head coach Dan Stout spoke after the game about how the free throw shooting hurt the team. As a team, the Eagles shot 41% from the charity stripe. Coach Stout went on to give credit to both teams for playing a good basketball game. Specifically, he highlighted the performances from North Mahaska’s Braden Steele and Nolan Anderson by describing how they really hurt the Eagle’s defense inside the paint. The last thing coach Stout went on to describe was that his team just needed to make more shots. They were in this game the entire time, they just needed to hit a couple more timely shots.

The Eagles fall to 10-3 on the season, with a conference record of 8-2. They will return to action on January 12, when they host the English Valleys Bears.