The KCII Area Game of the Week takes a trip to the Tree House tonight for the first time this basketball season when the home Lions host Keota in a boys only contest.

The Lone Tree Lions enter action with one official game under their belt after taking down Columbus at home on Tuesday 72-46. Jonathan Chaney’s team jumped out to a commanding 25-10 lead after the first, which ballooned from there. Lone Tree returns three starters from last year’s team, including junior Emmett Burke, who scored a team-high 287 points for the Lions. Burke is also the best returning rebounder, securing exactly 100 a season ago. Per game, Lone Tree put up north of 56 points, and gave up over 76, shooting 40 percent from the field, 28 percent from three and 61.6 percent at the line. The Lions collected over 26 boards, 10 assists, eight steals, one block and 17 turnovers a contest.

The Keota Eagle boys have already taken the court twice in 2024, beating Louisa-Muscatine on Monday and Sigourney on Tuesday. In their game with the Savages, Billie Kindred could not be stopped on offense and defense, racking up 22 points and collecting 22 rebounds. Junior Chase Haifley backed teammate Kindred with 21 points of his own, while Jace Chalupa scored 10. Through their two games, the Eagles put up over 73 points a contest, and give up just over 50, shooting 40.3 percent from the field, 59.4 percent at the line, and a third-best in Class 1A 41.7 percent from downtown. Keota averages 42 boards, over 16 assists, 13 steals, 3 blocks and is turned over 12 times. Kindred is top five in 1A with his 54 points, 38 rebounds and 11 threes made, while Haifley is top five with his 19 assists and 42 field goal attempts.

Lone Tree Head Coach Jonathan Chaney joined KCII Sports on the Coaches Corner to discuss what he’s seen from his team in the early season. “I’ve been really impressed with their willingness to learn and improve. So far, it’s been really awesome to see the way they get after things,” Chaney said. “They lost some games last year that they think they should have won. With the conference shakeup and some of the bigger names that have graduated, I think this team has some high expectations and is looking to be the surprise team in the conference this year.”

Keota Head Coach Dan Stout joined KCII Sports on the Area Game of the Week postgame show after his team’s victory over rival Sigourney on Tuesday to talk about the improvements his team needs to make ahead of tonight’s matchup with the Lions. “One thing I’d like to really tell our kids is to get a little better individual defense. I thought tonight we had too many guys drive around us and get to the basket. We’d either foul them or let them go score. I told the kids after the game we work on this every day in close out drills. I think we’ve got to improve on that a lot,” Stout said.

In the Varsity Bound era, Keota leads the all-time series with Lone Tree 7-2 dating back to 2015. The Eagles have won the last seven in the series, including last season’s 73-36 victory on November 30th.

You can hear all of the action live tonight between Lone Tree and Keota streaming exclusively online at KCIIRadio.com on the KCII3 Stream beginning with pregame coverage at 7, and tipoff between the Lions and Eagles at 7:30 p.m. from Lone Tree High School.