CARBONDALE — There was a chance, however remote, that Iola High’s boys could have been on the outside looking in for the upcoming Class 4A playoffs.
Had the Mustangs lost their regular season finale Thursday, and Ottawa and Fort Scott won their games, it would have created a four-team tie for the final two playoff slots.
“It looked like we were gonna be in, no matter what,” Mustang head coach Luke Bycroft explained, noting the tiebreaker included such things as overall point differential.
Fortunately, Iola left nothing to change.
The Mustangs put a thrilling cap on the regular season, with some clutch defensive stops in overtime of a 63-59 win over host Santa Fe Trail.
The win, Iola’s fourth in five games, puts the Mustangs at 6-14 on the season.
“That was big, securing our spot,” Bycroft said. “We don’t have to worry about other games, and who’s gonna be in. We’re gonna be a low seeed, and we’re gonna have to play a tough team. But that’s OK. We’re in. That was the goal we talked about when some of our other goals fell through.
This one tonight, the most impressive part was the toughness we showed.IHS coach Luke Bycroft
“This one tonight, the most impressive part was the toughness we showed,” he continued. “In years past, when things were really hard, we may not get it done. Tonight, things were hard, and we got it done.”
The Mustangs received clutch performances up and down the lineup, none bigger than the one-two punch offered by Tyler Boeken inside and Landon Weide from the perimeter.
It was Weide who scored seven of Iola’s nine points in overtime, including 4-for-4 from the line to wind up with a team-high 19 points.
Much of that room to maneuver came because Santa Fe Trail made a point of focusing its defense on containing Boeken inside.
It didn’t matter much as the burly senior made his presence known throughout, to the tune of 16 points and 13 rebounds.
“They were trying to play physical with him, but he just played through it and didn’t let it bother him,” Byrcroft said.
But even then, it almost wasn’t enough.
After Iola controlled the proceedings for the entire first half, and even opened up an 11-point lead early in the third quarter, the Chargers caught fire from outside.
Senior guard Blake Buessing hit four 3-pointers in the third quarter alone, coupled with a pair of untimely Mustang turnovers. Buessing’s trey with 3:15 left in the quarter capped a 15-4 run to knot the score at 42-42.
The game was nip-and-tuck until Buessing’s steal and layup early in the fourth quarter, followed by a Landon Watkins 3-pointer put Santa Fe Trail on top for the first time, 51-48, with 5 minutes left in regulation.
