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Haack scores 30 in defeat
Tigers lose entertaining battle but play Eagles closer than last season
Southeast Iowa Union offers audio versions of articles using Instaread. Some words may be mispronounced.
MARENGO — Friday night’s South Iowa Cedar League East boys’ basketball battle was fun and entertaining.
Keota came out on top, pulling away late for a 69-57 victory.
“I’m very proud of the way they battled, and I could not have asked for a better effort,“ Iowa Valley coach Josh Konicek said.
The Eagles finished last season at 23-1 and returned key players, such as Chase Haifley and Billie Kindred.
Their scoring abilities were on full-display Friday night.
Haifley dropped 29 points with many of his buckets coming off tough midrange shots. Kindred dropped 19, hitting multiple threes.
The Tigers kept this game much closer than last year’s two games, highlighting their improvement.
The other star of the game was Caleb Haack, who scored 30 for the Tigers, 15 in each half. Haack also added 13 rebounds and six blocks.
Haack was efficient working in the high post all game.
“He’s worked his butt off to be able to finish like that,” Konicek said. “He has become a really great leader for us too, from practices to in the huddle.”
The Eagles shot out of the gate hot, scoring 25 in the first quarter.
The Tigers withstood the assault and trailed 25-16 after a quarter.
Haack got going in the second, scoring eight of the Tigers first 11 points to cut the lead to one.
Haifley and Kindred lead the charge as the Eagles closed the quarter on a 13-3 run to take the 11-point lead into half.
The Eagles seemed to be pulling away, extending the lead to 17 in the third, but the Tigers still had some fight in them.
Iowa Valley closed the quarter on an 11-0 run to make the score 57-51 after three quarters.
Layne Peska, Haack, Cole Long and Owen Ary each scored during the run.
“Last year we would’ve folded over against them at halftime,” Konicek said.
The intensity and opportunities were there in the fourth, but the Tigers weren’t able to cut into the lead in the fourth as the Eagles pulled away.
The difference in the score stayed in the single digits until the final minute of the game and the 69-57 final score.
Jace Chalupa scored in double digits for the Eagles, with 12.
Ary had 12 and Long had 10 for the Tigers.
IOWA VALLEY STATS
Scoring: Layne Peska 1-1 1-2 3, Cole Long 3-13 2-4 10, Owen Ary 5-7 2-4 12, Caleb Haack 12-21 6-6 30, Chandler McKibben 1-3 0-2 2, Noah Etzel 0-4 0-0 0, Totals 22-49 11-18 57
3-point goals: 2-14 (Long 2-8, Haack 0-5, Etzel 0-1); Rebounds: 34 (Haack 13); Assists: 17 (Peska & Haack 4); Steals: 4 (Long 3); Total fouls: 15
