Keota falls in thriller

It seemed like a case of déjà vu.

It was a tie ballgame with one minute to play, and it felt the same as it did four minutes before in overtime.

Keota?s boys? basketball team had tied the ballgame up at 60 with one minute to play in regulation, and after Twin Cedars? Otis Roby missed a potential game-winning shot, the Eagles had the ball with 2.6 seconds left in their offensive half-court.

Twin Cedars stole the inbound pass, and sent the game to overtime.

Fast-forward back to the tie game in overtime (this time at 66-all), but this time, Roby made good on the go-ahead shot.

The Sabers again stole the inbound pass after the bucket, with 22 seconds left, and a pair of free throws sealed the game for Twin Cedars, who advanced to the next round with the 71-66 victory, where they will face Sigourney.

?We didn?t execute down the stretch,? Keota head coach Dan Stout said. ?I thought we did a nice job in the third quarter coming back and getting the lead, but we just didn?t finish the way we needed to. There?s nothing you can do about it now.?

In the final game of the Keota season, the team was led by its lone senior, Nate Owen, who scored 23 points and added 10 rebounds for the Eagles.

Sophomore Avery Conrad, who only averaged 3.9 points per game this season, put in 20 points for the Eagles.

?(Avery) was being aggressive,? Stout said. ?Paden (Uphold) was sick and we knew we weren?t going to get many minutes out of him tonight, and Avery did a great job. He played hard and got after it. If someone is sick, someone has to step up and we just didn?t have the other guys finishing the job for us.?

The Eagles fell behind quickly to Twin Cedars, as the Sabers used a 10-2 run to take a 10-4 lead early in the game.

The Eagles cut the lead to three points in the first quarter, but Twin Cedars made it a 23-15 lead in a hurry, behind 18 early points from Roby.

Roby finished the night with 38 points and 23 rebounds.

?We knew we had to stay on him, and the biggest problem was rebounding,? Stout said. ?We got him to miss, he was getting his own rebound. I thought we did a nice job in the second quarter after his barrage of 3-pointers in the first quarter, but he made enough plays to get them the win.?

In the second quarter, Keota started to cut into Twin Cedars? lead, using a 6-2 run to close the half and make it a 30-26 Saber lead.

Late in the third quarter, Keota made its run, with Conrad putting in back-to-back buckets and Zach Mousel earning the four-point play during an 11-1 run which gave the Eagles a 43-42 lead.

Keota took that lead into the fourth quarter, extending it as far as five points in the final eight minutes before the Sabers closed the gap and sent it to overtime.

In overtime, the Eagles jumped out to a 66-62 lead, but Twin Cedars closed the game on a 9-0 run to end the Eagles? season.

The Eagles finished the season with a 12-10 record and will lose Owen (20 points per game, 11.4 rebounds per game) their only senior, after this year.