A few words of gentle persuasion at halftime paid off for Iola Middle Schools Pony A team Thursday.
Who are we kidding?
Coach Ben Wiehm compared his speech at intermission to a halftime reaming, an attempt to get his young greenhorns to trust one another on the court, instead of playing with a me first strategy.
The message was received loud and clear.
Iola came out focused and aggressive in the third quarter, outscoring Osawatomie 13-1, to take a 29-12 lead, with seven Pony athletes scoring in the period.
The rest of the 38-19 victory involved rotating several players at a time.
We came closer to playing as a team in the second half, Wiehm said. Our defense continued to play extremely well, but we started attacking the hoop and took better shots on offense.
On the plus side, nine of the 10 Iola players who saw action also scored, led by Kyler Mittelmeiers 10 points. Brandon McKarnin and Justin McCullough followed with five apiece. Eli Adams, Jake Skahan and Cody Wille followed with four each. Holden Barker scored three, Carter Hutton two and Jarrett Herrmann, one.
Theres still big room for improvement. Wiehm said, pointing to the teams 6-of-18 shooting from the free throw line.
THE PONY B Team continued its roll, cruising to a 13-0 lead over Osawatomie and a 21-2 cushion at the half. Coaches Wiehm and Cody Hager again emptied the bench in the second half, winding up with a 39-9 victory.
Wiehm said the momentum built from a buzzer-beating victory over Pittsburg a week ago continued through B team practices.
No matter who their opponent was on Thursday, they were in for a rough game, Wiehm said. The boys came out aggressive and jumped all over Osawatomie, turning turnovers into easy buckets.
Eleven of the 12 Ponies scored, led by Josh Perezs six points. Wille and Keynan Stahl scored five apiece. Travis Wanker, Kaster Trabuc and Gage Scheibmeir each notched four, Jack White three and Drake Mathew, Wyatt Westervelt and Payton Houk two apiece.
Everyone got significant playing time, Wiehm said. It was a great win.
Iola travels to Prairie View on Monday before hosting Santa Fe Trail Thursday.
