The Keota boys basketball team moved on in the playoffs last night, by beating Montezuma in a physical ball game.

The Eagles won 48-33, but may have more bruises than they did points in the game.

The start of the game was all Keota, jumping out quickly to take an eight point lead, while Montezuma had some quality shots, but couldn’t land any. The Eagles led after one 16-7. In the second quarter, things started to get a little too fast and out-of-control for Keota, and the Braves seemed to capitalize on it a little more, trailing 24-16 at half.

The second half Keota got out to an 18 point lead at one point, but Montezuma got the Eagles in foul trouble and battled their way back to within striking distance again at the end of three, 36-24. The fourth quarter was physical, and got a little scary for Keota, as Montezuma looked to battled back off of a three point shot from Dakota Strong. The Eagles got into the double bonus midway through the quarter though, and salted the game at the line.

Eagle head coach Dan Stout said it wasn’t their best game, but they still pulled out the double digit win.

“That is what the kids said. Kolton said, ‘well that is the worst game that I played, and we still won by 15, so that’s pretty good,’ and it is, that is what this group is, they are a bunch of team players,” Stout said. “Kolton and Luke (Lyle) have led us all year long in scoring, but we’ve talked about it a lot, we don’t care who scores. Kolton likes to get assists and Luke likes to get assists and rebounds, and it was nice to see Nate get a couple.”

Kolton Greiner was held to just six points all game, all in the second half. Luke Lyle had the game high 15 points, and Nate Owen came in with 11.

Keota will play BGM tomorrow at Mid-Prairie, and you can hear it right here on AM and FM KCII and KCIIradio.com.