WELLSVILLE — Iola High’s basketball schedule is filled with aggressive, physical teams that play a similar style as Wellsville, whom the Mustangs faced for the first time this season on Friday.
“There aren’t many as good as they are, though,” Mustang head coach Bill Peeper said.
The Eagles controlled the tempo from the start, forcing 23 Iola turnovers in a 58-45 victory.
The loss drops Iola to 4-4 in Pioneer League play and 8-10 overall. Wellsville improves to 7-1 in league and 15-3 overall.
“There were two things in play,” Peeper said. “We struggled to handle their press. They like to get after it, and they’re a veteran team with good guards. And we struggled to stop them too many times from taking the shots they wanted. They hit some tough shots, but we made it too easy on them.”
Iola rebounded from an early 11-2 deficit with a Tyler Powelson jumper, a pair of Trent Latta baskets and two putbacks by Bryan Mueller.
Mueller’s second putback beat the first-quarter buzzer and cut the deficit to 15-13.
Wellsville promptly opened the second quarter by hitting four 3-pointers and converting a 3-point play Shamus Kearney to open a 29-16 advantage.
Adam Kauth converted a 3-point play, and Latta scored to cut the deficit to 29-21 before Wellsville scored six straight points to push ahead 35-21.
The lead never dipped below double digits after that.
The Eagles took advantage of the bruising style. Players on both teams took turns tumbling to the court after an assortment of collisions.
“That’s the style they like to play,” Peeper said.
Tyler Powelson, who typically does most of his scoring inside, drained a pair of 3-pointers for Iola in the fourth quarter to wind up with a team-high 13 points and eight rebounds. Latta scored 12 with five steals. Adam Kauth had nine boards and three assists. Fryendz Wallace pulled down six rebounds, Mueller had three steals and Tyler McIntosh had four assists.
Carter Mann and Kearney combined to hit seven 3-pointers, finishing with 21 and 19 points, respectively.
The Mustangs won the junior varsity matchup, 53-51. Kohl Endicott, Travis Hermstein, Ben Cooper and Adam Peterson all had nine points to share high scoring honors. Brett Taylor and Gus Hopkins added eight each. Alex Kelly scored one.
Wellsville won 60-28 in the C team affair. No individual statistics were available by press time.
Iola wraps up the regular season with home games Monday against Anderson County and Thursday against Wellsville once again.
“We’d like to think we can challenge them a little better than we did tonight,” Peeper said. “It’s always good to face good teams to end the season like that.”
Thursday’s rematch is a makeup contest due to snowy weather earlier this month.
Iola (13-10-11-11—45)
Wellsville (15-20-17-6—58)
Iola (FG/3pt-FT-F-TP): Latta 6-0-0-12, Cooper 0-0-1-0, Mueller 2-0-4-4, Wallace 1-0-0-2, McIntosh 0/1-0-0-3, Zimmerman 1/1-0-3-5, Kauth 2-2-0-6, Powelson 3/2-2-3-13, Peterson 0-0-1-0. TOTALS: 15/4-3-12-45.
Wellsville (FG/3pt-FT-F-TP): Breithaupt 2-0-1-4, Silsby 1-6-1-8, Gretencord 1-0-3-2, Kearney 5/3-0-2-19, Mann 4/4-1-1-21, Meyer 0-1-3-1, Klamm 1-0-1-2. TOTALS: 14/7-9-12-58.
Eagles keep Iola grounded
