Sieren scorches nets for Keota

KEOTA - Severe wind chills canceled area schools and postponed two Class 1A Substate 6 District 11 boys basketball games Monday.

Both games were played Tuesday with Keota hosting Twin Cedars and North Mahaska hosting Melcher-Dallas.

Both games went much like the weather as they blew through an early start and did not spend much time away from home. Keota had a running clock before it ended 68-34. North Mahaska ran past its opponents in an 83-42 win. Keota and North Mahaska meet Thursday in Keota. The War Hawks and Eagles met in New Sharon earlier, and Keota escaped with a 51-50 win that clinched the South Iowa Cedar League East Division title.

Keota raced to a 20-7 lead on Twin Cedars by the end of the first quarter as Sam Sieren scored 11 of those points, canning three 3-pointers. He would finish with 15, his career high.

'Sam came out and really shot it well, but he has been doing that recently,” Keota head coach Dan Stout said. 'He has really been helping us out.”

Luke Hammen took over in the Eagles second quarter, nailing four from downtown. He hit a fifth in the second half and finished with 17 points. Carson Sprouse had six in each half for his 12 points.

Bryce Greiner netted six of his eight points on first half bombs, and the Eagles led 38-14 at halftime.

The Eagles are 19-2 while Twin Cedars ends the year at 7-9. North Mahaska is 16-4 and got 42 of its 50 points against Keota Jan. 8 from two sophomores and two seniors.

'Those sophomores are really good, Nash is really good,” Stout said of Nash Smith (averages of 13.5 points 7.7 rebounds) and Braden Steel (12.8 points, 8.9 rebounds). 'We are going to have to shoot the three ball then spread the floor out to attack.”

Stout has seen the War Hawks institute a 1-3-1 since the two teams played. Teams have been running a triangle and two as a defense more recently against the Eagles.

'Sam has defeated the defense with the way he has been knocking them down,” Stout said. 'They left Bryce Greiner alone last time, too.”

Sprouse and Hammen both average 16 points a game with Brady Duwa at 8.9 and Greiner at 7.1. Wyatt Sieren averages 3.7, Sam Sieren 4.4.

If the Eagles were too confident, Friday's loss to visiting Cardinal, who came into the game with a record of 8-9, shrunk egos.

'Sam had two, Bryce and Wyatt didn't score and that's how Cardinal beat us,” Stout said. Sprouse scored 26, Hammen 21 and Duwa eight. 'We have to get more points out of Bryce, but Cardinal was very athletic.”

The Comets had a 14-4 edge in offensive rebounds.

'I think our experience will pay off,” Stout said. Keota has nine seniors on the roster.

'When the old pressure ratchets up at tournament time, there is a little bit more nervousness in the kids,” Stout said, 'And younger kids tend to feel it more.”