Keota, Braves are ready to shoot it out

Are you ready for another shoot-out?

The boys from Keota and Montezuma can fill it up, and they’ll meet at 7 Thursday evening, Feb. 27 in Williamburg for a Class 1A district championship.

The sub-plot: A prospective scoring battle between Montezuma’s Trey Shearer and Keota’s J.D. Stout.

Montezuma brings in a 21-2 record to Keota’s 20-3.

They played each other on Jan. 21, the Braves outscoring the Eagles 24-17 in the fourth quarter of a 76-68 win.

J.D. Stout, a 6-0 senior, scores 29.5 points a game for Keota.

Trey Shearer, a 5-8 junior, puts in 26.1 per game for the Braves.

Each scored 45 points in their team’s regional semifinals win.

At stake in this one: A berth in Saturday’s sub-state game in Knoxville.

We’re going to focus more on what Keota has here, because we just had Montezuma’s numbers in a story earlier this week, which you probably can find on the landing page, if not the second page.

Shearer scored 38 points the first time the teams played. Stout had 28.

Cole Watts dropped in 19 in support of Shearer. Luke Hammen and Carson Sprouse had 13 and 12, respectively, behind Stout.

Trey Shearer wants to extend Montezuma’s season when the Braves play Keota for the district title. (Allyson Fillmore file).

The teams know each other pretty well, as both are members of the South Iowa Cedar League. So, it will be a matter of execution.

Stout is a .491 field goal shooter, including .329 from three-point range.

Hammen, a 6-0 junior, scores 12.2 per game, shoots .444 from the field, and is second on the team with 110 rebounds.

Sprouse, a 6-0 senior, scores 11.7 per game and has hit 45 three-pointers.

Brady Duwa, a 6-2 junior, scores 7.5 points and is the team leader in rebounds with 135.

Wyatt Sieren, a 6-2 junior, has 109 rebounds.

Both teams have excellent assists-to-turovers ratios.

We haven’t said anything about defense.

And it could be that is what will decide it . . .