Keller boys rally in the fourth, Indians hand Byron Nelson first district loss
Last time Keller and Byron Nelson met on the hardwood, Byron Nelson squeaked out a 52-51 victory. Since then, the Indians had Round 2 circled on the calendar.
Keller scored 32 points in the fourth quarter and hit all 15 free throw attempts in the final period to rally back and beat Byron Nelson, 73-67, in a District 4-6A boys basketball showdown Wednesday night.
Keller improved to 15-8 overall and 7-3 in district.
The Indians snapped the Bobcats’ 13-game win streak and drop Byron to 15-3 overall and 8-1 in district.
“The kids had a ton of toughness and never gave up,” Keller coach Zach Weir said. “The word I can use is gritty. They just kept chipping away and I attribute it to the work they’ve done all season.”
Trailing 49-41 after third quarter, the deficit grew early in the fourth to 12 points after a steal and layup by Byron guard Finley Bizjack, who had a game-high 22 points.
The Bobcats would still hold a 9-point lead after a Jesse Iweze bucket with five minutes left, but Keller stormed back.
Keller got a 3-pointer from Brooks Bahr and big brother Blake Bahr got a steal, layup and three to pull the Indians within four with 3:54 left. Layups by Bahr and Luke Bowen, and another Blake Bahr 3 made it a 1-point game with under two minutes to go.
Keller took the lead for good when Blake Bahr knocked out the ball and finished on the other end to make it 65-64 Indians and Keller knocked down free throws to pull off the upset.
“They battled and we had some dudes step up big time,” Weir said. “Blake had a steal and layup and Parker Hannah made a big three and those two things got us and the crowd going and really ignited us. Proud of their effort.”
Blake Bahr scored 14 of his team-high 19 points in the fourth quarter. He went 7 of 7 from the charity stripe in the final frame.
“The threes weren’t falling for us the entire game. We got a couple drives, couple steals and just attacked the basket,” Bahr said. “It was an undefeated team so we had to come through and knock them off. We knew we could win this game.”
Wyatt Bell added 13 points for Keller. Hannah chipped in 11.
“We marked this game on the calendar. We weren’t ready to lose. We were winning tonight,” Hannah said. “Just finished the fourth with big energy, that was a huge factor for us, and we just kept bringing the heat.”
Byron led 19-17 after the first quarter and 32-30 at intermission.
