With their first district championship since 1999, Keller was poised to take on Arlington Lamar on Tuesday in the bi-district round of the boys basketball playoffs.
It is also Keller’s first district title in Class 5A.With the results not available by the print deadline, Keller was looking to be making plans to travel west for a likely Friday second-round 5A playoff game.Head coach Randall Durant said late last week his Indians would be working toward a face-off with either Abilene or El Paso Bel Air should they make it past Lamar.An opponent such as Abilene could land them in a neutral location such as Mineral Wells, or further west, such as Midland, should Bel Air be Keller’s opponent.But Durant said the team wasn’t taking Lamar for granted.Although they were the fourth place team in their district, their 8-6 district record was deceiving.“Their only losses were to the leading teams – Martin, Bowie and North Crowley,” Durant said.“They’re sneaky,” he added, saying that the Vikings had been without their leading scorer for a number of games early in the season.The Indians were afforded the top seed out of District 4-5A when they finished off their season with a 53-34 win over Central.The win gave Keller a 12-2 district record (22-10 overall), tied with Richland, but a sweep of the Rebels in the regular season was the tie-breaker they needed.The Central game is hopefully an indication as to how the Indians can come on in the second half of contests.Keller led by just five points at the half before pulling away from the Chargers in the final two periods.Blake Stewart led the way for Keller, scoring a season high 16 points and grabbed five rebounds.Austyn Kennedy was just behind Stewart with 15 points and freshman Nolan Taylor added 11 points and seven rebounds.The play of Stewart, Kennedy and others will be needed during a playoff run to help take attention away from Mike Opolski, who continues to draw tight defensive attention.In order to prepare for the intense stretch of playoff games Keller intends to be playing, Durant said the preparation began over the last three weeks.“We started changing our practices since the second round of our district games,” Durant said. “We try to practice just a little less,” but added the workouts are more intense and focused.“It’s all about how you play right now, not like how you were playing in December,” Durant said. “You’ve got to be able to play your best now, every week.”Have more to add? News tip? Tell us
