Freshmen Mustangs win championship

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Sports

January 27, 2015 - 12:00 AM

Iola High’s freshmen Mustangs took first place for the second year in a row at the freshmen basketball tournament. Iola jumped to a huge lead at halftime and was able to ride to a 43-34 win over Fort Scott.
After the first quarter, the Mustangs led 19-5. Matt Komma scored six points. Ethan Holloway and Isaac Vink followed with five points — Vink had a 3-pointer. Nick Vaughn connected on a 3-pointer.
The Mustangs led 31-14 heading into halftime. Holloway led the quarter for the freshmen with six points, ending the night with a game-high 16 points.
“We really controlled the intensity and the tempo from the first through the third quarters,” coach Luke Bycroft said. “We didn’t score as much in the third, but we held them to four, so we did well on defense.”
The Mustangs outscored the Tigers in the third quarter 6-4. Holloway, Vink and Evan Sigg each made a basket.
The Tigers tried to make a late run in the fourth quarter, outscoring the Mustangs 16-6. But it wasn’t enough. Fort Scott’s Jessie Jones, Gunnar Brown and Jessie Lawrence each scored eight points to lead their team on the night.
“The fourth quarter was a little bit of an aberration I think, we did kind of relax there in the last few minutes,” Bycroft said. “We let their pressure speed us up a bit, we settled back down and handled it. That’s really one of those games where we were in charge pretty much the whole game.”
After Holloway’s 16 points, Vink finished with seven points. Komma and Sigg both finished with six points. Vaughn scored five points. Kanyon Beasley finished with two points and Cale Barnhart scored on a free throw.
“We came out with a little more fire this week to start,” Byrcoft said. “That’s what we expect. I tell them every night, ‘every time you’re on the floor, everything you’ve got.”

EARLIER, THE freshmen Fillies lost to Labette County 44-22.
“Our effort was great. Every night we know that our girls are going to come out and play,” coach Chris Weide said. “We had a couple scouting reports, we knew they were tall. They have a 6-2 girl, a couple 5-8 girls. We knew we’d have trouble working inside, but our girls worked hard.”
At halftime, the Fillies trailed 23-6. Colbi Riley, Carly Cescon and Chloe Gardner each had a basket for Iola.
Riley had a big third quarter for the Fillies, scoring five points. Gardner had another basket and Olivia Taylor knocked down two free throws.
 “They never gave up. We just need some shots to fall and we’re going to do really well in our league,” Weide said. “We’re going to come back on Friday against Chanute. They got us by 20 points last time, so we’ll try to get them this week.”
Riley led both teams in scoring with 10 points. Fort Scott didn’t have any scorers in double-digits, but had eight girls score. Gardner finished with five points. Karly McGuffin scored three points — all in the fourth quarter. Taylor and Cescon each scored two points.

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