The Keota Boys Basketball team opened the Class 1A Substate 6 Playoffs with a bang last night, drubbing the English Valleys Bears 99-35 on their home court. Keota sprinted out to a 36-7 lead after the first frame, and never looked back.

Individually, it was Senior Sawyer Stout leading the charge of the 11 total Eagles that scored. Stout had 24 points. Aiden McGuire, Billie Kindred and Cole Kindred all scored over 10 points with 14, 13 and 11, respectively.

The battle on the glass was key to the Eagles’ success, as Keota finished with an unofficial 44 rebounds to the Bears’ 17. Turnovers plagued the Bears all night long along with the rebounding woes. English Valleys committed an unofficial 27 turnovers to Keota’s nine.

On the postgame show, Keota’s leader on the night, Sawyer Stout joined us to talk about the win. “We were really balanced scoring. That’s what you love seeing. On the final tally we had 99 points, and that’s incredible in high school basketball. English Valleys, they beat us one time our sophomore year, so we really like getting them back. We probably have a six-game winning streak on them now. It’s always a good conference matchup, and to beat them in the postseason, they always say it’s tough to beat somebody three times in basketball, but we showed it here tonight.”

Keota Head Coach Dan Stout also joined KCII Sports postgame to discuss his team’s 99-point performance. “I thought our kids came locked in from the opening tip. We ran a little set play. I think Sawyer and Billie set that stuff up themselves, where one of them is going to get that shot right off the bat and Billie knocked it down, and boom we were off and running.”

With the win, Keota now advances to the Class 1A District 11 Semifinals, where they will face the North Tama Redhawks on Thursday night in Keota. Tipoff is slated for 7 p.m.