Mustangs struggle with inconsistency, lose 60-49

At times, the Mustangs have strung together a decent quarter here and there. Sometimes they can stretch that into two quarters.
And every once in a while — like on Friday night against Osawatomie — Iola can even be the better basketball team for three periods of play.
Unfortunately for coach Jay Applegate and company, it’s a four-quarter game. And after four quarters against the Trojans at home, the Mustangs once again found themselves on the losing side.
Osawatomie defeated Iola, 60-49 — mostly due to the Trojans’ 24-5 run that started late in the first half and carried over to the second.
“We’re not consistent the whole game,” Applegate said. “We’re just not. We got to get a better basketball mentality, basketball savvy, basketball wisdom.”
There was nothing wise or clever about how Osawatomie was dominating the third period. The Trojans attacked the Mustangs with the press and it worked. Applegate said it wasn’t anything special, but he added that his players needed to be more patient and simply recognize it better.
“Our heads weren’t there,” Applegate said.
Had Iola limited Osawatomie’s effectiveness off the press to kick off the second half, the Mustangs could have very possibly walked away with their second victory of the year Friday night.
Instead, Iola drops to 1-7.
“I think these kids want to play better and they want to work hard, we just got to be more in the groove of doing it,” Applegate said.
In other words, Iola needs to find a rhythm — especially offensively — and stick with it for the entirety of a game.
That methodical attack was building to a head during the first half when the Mustangs kept up with the Trojans and entered the break down, 30-22. Behind the hot hand of Ben Cooper, who recorded 15 first half points, Iola maintained pressure on Osawatomie and crept within striking distance at several points in the contest.
But then the third quarter came around.
Ethan Holloway, Chase Regehr and Zachary Cokely were the only Mustangs to score in the entire period, which left an opportunity for the Trojans to blow the game open. And they did.
Osawatomie led by as much as 26 at the start of the fourth. But credit to Iola, the Mustangs never surrendered.
Isaiah Fawson had one of the best eight-minute stretches of his young basketball career after knocking down three free throws and five field goals — including three three-pointers.
The junior finished with a team-high 17 points, and 14 of those came in the final quarter.