LA CYGNE The back-and-forth, up-and-down roller coaster of a season for the Iola boys continued on Friday after the Mustangs soundly defeated Prairie View on their home court 76-60.
The win comes just a couple days after Iola got ran off of its own court by Burlington and showed a level of focus, intensity and execution that was nowhere to be seen earlier in the week.
We moved the ball, we moved without the ball and we played unselfish basketball, head coach Luke Bycroft said. Theyre fun to watch when theyre playing that way. Now we still took some silly shots and forced some things every now and again but Ill take that if were moving and sharing the ball. We were together, we were a team and we were the complete opposite of the other night.
The win moves the Mustangs to 3-2 so far this season and 1-1 in Pioneer League play.
After a fairly even first quarter and a half, the Mustangs started to get in a groove, scoring 10 straight and pushing their lead to 29-18. Iola was hitting from inside and out but it was the rebounding that they were doing more than anything that helped the Mustangs create lasting separation.
After we opened up the game a little bit in the second quarter I called timeout and sat them all down and told them that we changed the game by rebounding the basketball, Bycroft said. Once we started dominating on the boards, that completely changed the flow of their offense and our offense.
Iola ended the game with 29 rebounds, 11 of which were on the offensive side to go along with 19 assists shared amongst the team.
The Mustangs went into the half up 37-25. The third quarter brought more of the same for Iola. Its lead grew thanks to an 8-0 run to start the quarter pushing the Mustang lead to 20 with 4:25 to play in the quarter.
The Mustangs lead continued to grow into the fourth quarter and nearly ballooned all of the way to 30 before Bycroft went to his bench with the Mustangs leading by 27.
The Buffalos fought back against the Iola reserves and got things back within 20 but that would be as close as they would get.
Senior Kane Rogers had a strong night, end- ing things with 18 points and four rebounds.
He was working his butt off inside, Bycroft said. He was getting in position in rebound- ing and defending but he was also getting in position on the offen- sive end of the game. We were getting him the ball because he was earning his position and then when he got the ball it was one-on-one and he was able to make a move and score. He wasnt afraid.
Juniors Noah Ashmore and Cal Leonard each had 10, senior Blake Ashmore had nine, senior Derek Bycroft had eight, junior Calvin Delich had seven, senior Cole Regehr had six and senior Hunter Preston, sophomore Landon Carson, senior Dylan Newland and sophomore Brayden Cole each had two.
The Mustangs will try to string together back-to-back promising performances for the rst time this season when they travel to Pittsburg to take on St. Marys-Colgan for the nal game of the semester on Tuesday.
We have to find a way to be consistent and do these same types of things Tuesday night, Bycroft said. Thats the challenge, we just have to keep competing
to win the next possession. Now we have Col- gan and our mindset needs to be challenge accepted because its not like theyre a team that we shouldnt beat. I told these guys that we can beat anybody on our schedule if were unsel sh like we were today and if we rebound the basketball. I really do believe that.
