BURLINGTON — Friday’s 66-58 loss in Burlington was a microcosm on the Mustangs’ entire season thus far.
Early in the game, it appeared Iola would have a great shot of knocking off the No. 7 ranked Wildcats.
Iola was getting the ball inside to its talented post players and Burlington was unable to put up much resistance, but just like the season as a whole: The Mustangs remain consistently inconsistent.
“Our strength is getting it inside, but we just go away from that too easy,” Iola coach Jay Applegate said.
After the game was tied at 17-17 early in the second quarter, Iola began to struggle to break the Wildcat press and Burlington erupted on a 14-2 run to take control of the game.
“Again, we started off with success early, and we can’t stand that I guess, because then we always want to do something different,” Applegate said. “We got out of the offense and took quick shots. We just have to sustain, but we aren’t good at sustaining. Success seems like it hurts us.”
A Joey Zimmerman three and a Evan Sigg score cut the lead to seven at halftime, but the damage was done and Iola still had a deep hole to climb out of.
After an Ethan Holloway basket, Iola got the lead down to three and then a pair of Zimmerman foul shots got the Mustangs within one.
But then the inconsistency struck again.
A 7-1 Burlington run gave them a seven-point cushion heading into the fourth quarter and Iola was never able to significantly cut into that lead again and fell 66-58.
Zimmerman led the team in scoring with 19 points.
“We just need other people to go along with him now,” Applegate said of Zimmerman.
Evan Sigg and Isaiah Fawson each finished with 11 points and basket, Iola got the lead down to three and then a pair of Zimmerman foul shots got the Mustangs within one.
But then the inconsistency struck again.
A 7-1 Burlington run gave them a seven-point cushion heading into the fourth quarter and Iola was never able to significantly cut into that lead again and fell 66-58.
Zimmerman led the team in scoring with 19 points.
“We just need other people to go along with him now,” Applegate said of Zimmerman.
Sigg and Isaiah Fawson each finished with 11 points and Ben Cooper added eight.
Holloway was limited to just six points as he battled both foul trouble and an ankle injury that required attention during the game. Applegate said after the game that Holloway’s ankle shouldn’t be a concern moving forward however.
Applegate helps his team will improve if they are able to buckle down and focus.
“Our focus just isn’t there,” Applegate said. “We are just lackadaisical at times. That might be a fault of coaching, maybe I need to put more fire into them.”
BOX SCORE
Burlington 66, Iola 58
Iola 15 9 13 21 – 58
Burlington 15 16 13 22 -66
Iola
(2pt/3pt-FTM-FTA-Points) Joey Zimmerman 2/3-6-8-19; Ben Cooper 2/1-1-2-8, Isaiah Fawson 2/1-4-4-11; Braden Plumlee 1/0-1-1-11; Ethan Holloway 3/0-0-1-6; Evan Sigg 5/0-1-2-11. TOTALS: 15/5-13-18-58. FOULED OUT: None.
Burlington
(2pt/3pt-FTM-FTA-Points) Brannon Nordstedt 2/2-0-0-10; Brogan Nordstedt 4/2-5-6-19; Jace Watkins 1/0-2-2-4; Isaac Kuhlmann 2/1-0-0-7; Garrison Fiedler 6/0-5-7-17; Jack Trimble 0/0-2-2-2; Connor Jeffers 3/0-1-1-7. TOTALS: 18/5-15-18-66. FOULED OUT: Kuhlmann.
JUNIOR VARSITY
The Mustang junior varsity won thee most entertaining game of the night as they topped 49-46 in overtime.
Blake Ashmore came up huge late with five points near the end of regulation to force overtime and finished with a team-high 14 points
FRESHMEN
The Iola freshman team lost 43-34.
Cal Leonard led the Mustangs with nine points and Calvin Delich added seven.
UP NEXT
The Mustangs will have another chance to face a top-tier Pioneer League rival on Tuesday when they host Prairie View..
