Chanute holds off Mustang rally

BURLINGTON — Stop us if you’ve heard this before.
On Friday, the Iola High Mustangs struggled mightily in the early going, the third such occurrence in four games in the young 2012-13 season.
Iola was sluggish on offense and defense as Chanute High blasted its way to a 19-4 lead.
“I was happy with how we put ourselves in position to come back, but it’s hard to come all the way back from 15 down,” Mustang head coach Bill Peeper said. “We’re just killing ourselves by coming out not ready to play.”
Iola got no closer than four points down the stretch in a 50-42 defeat.
The loss comes in the fifth-place contest of Burlington’s preseason tournament. Iola went 1-2 in tournament play and stands at 1-3 overall.
“I don’t know how it happens,” Peeper said. “I thought we fixed this last time out (in a win over Louisburg.) Tonight was a step backward for us.”
Iola held a 2-0 lead before Chanute’s Caleb Dietsch drained a 3-pointer for the Blue Comets to trigger a 10-0 spurt. The Mustangs’ Tyler Powelson stopped the run with an inside basket. Chanute responded with another nine-point flurry in the final 1:41 of the period.
Iola’s Tyler McIntosh scored to start the second quarter, followed in short order by two Powelson buckets to close the gap to 19-10.
The lead was 21-10 when Powelson scored again, followed by a field goal by Andrew Kauth to cut the gap to seven.
But the momentum was snuffed when Dietsch hit from 3-point range at the halftime buzzer to push the Chanute lead back into double digits, 24-14.
The Blue Comet advantage yo-yoed between 11 and 15 points throughout the third quarter until Iola’s Levi Ashmore hit a buzzer-beater of his own to cut the gap to eight, 35-27.
The lead swelled back to double digits at 42-32 before Iola’s final real salvo of the night.
Powelson converted a three-point play with 5:05 left in the game. Two Dietsch free throws were countered by another Powelson bucket with 3:25 left.
The teams traded missed baskets and turnovers on their next two possessions before Mason Coons hit a 3-pointer for the Mustangs to cut the gap to 44-40.
Chanute’s Derek Sharp scored before Iola came up empty on its next two possessions.
Two Sharp free throws put the game out of reach.
Powelson led Iola with 15 points, 11 rebounds, four steals and three blocks. Ashmore added eight points and two assists, while Coons had six boards. Trent Latta had five steals for the Mustangs.
“I don’t think our slow start had anything to do with tired legs,” Peeper said. “I think it had a lot to do with leadership. Other teams aren’t going to lay down and let us do what we want. We have to take it.”
Brock Gilmore paced the Blue Comets with 18 points. Dietsch scored 13.
In other tournament action Friday, Louisburg defeated Baldwin 50-41 to win the tournament championship. Burlington knocked off Anderson County 80-73 in the third-place game.
Iola returns to action Tuesday in its home-opener against Fredonia.

Iola (4-10-13-13—42)
Chanute (18-5-11-15—50)
Iola (FG/3pt-FT-F-TP): Latta 2-2-3-6, Ashmore 1/2-0-1-8, Coons 1/1-0-2-5, McIntosh 1-2-0-4, Macha 1-0-1-2, Kauth 1-0-0-2, Powelson 7-1-2-15. TOTALS: 14/3-5-12-42.
Chanute (FG/3pt-FT-F-TP): Fairchild 0-0-3-0, Martin 2-0-0-4, Gilmore 7-4-Richards 0-2-2-2, Dietsch 2/2-3-2-13, Sharp 4-2-1-10, Ellis 1-1-2-3. TOTALS: 16/2-12-50.