Iola head coach Luke Bycroft walked away from December’s 62-54 road loss at Burlington knowing his team let one slip away.
A month and a half went by and Burlington continued being one of the top teams in the state while the Mustangs hit a rash of bad luck and injuries and toppled their way to what almost seemed like a hopeless season.
The Mustangs were lost on the floor and their play showed it, going 2-5 throughout January.
But Friday night, a sense of direction and motivation seemed to be found as Iola took its first steps towards hardwood recovery, beating No. 7 Burlington 63-43.
“We’ve been focusing on the idea that we need to quit playing for the fourth quarter or the end of the game,” Bycroft said. “We need to play for the next possession and that’s what they did tonight. All night long we kept reminding them and they stayed focused. This is the most complete game we’ve played all year.”
After two incredibly disappointing losses in a row, Bycroft seemed encouraged by his team’s effort in practice but wasn’t ready to fully buy in.
“Honestly I didn’t know what to think because that Chanute week we had the best week of practice all year,” Bycroft said. “And then we came out terrible. So I’ve felt good about practice the last couple days — the way they responded, the way we handled things, the intensity and accountability we had— but that didn’t mean that I knew what to expect when they stepped on the floor.”
The Mustangs seemed confident from the get-go as they took an early lead and leaned on their stout defense and tenacious rebounding to overcome the fact that neither team seemed to be lighting it up from the field.
A last second three from junior Blake Ashmore gave Iola a five-point lead headed into halftime.
This is where the test really began.
The Wildcats came out blazing, cutting Iola’s five-point lead into a four-point deficit as part of a 10-2 run to start the half.
The Mustangs have been here before. In these situations, they’ve collapsed in the past.
Friday was not the past. The Mustangs put themselves in gear and ended the quarter with a 9-0 run to jump back in front.
“We really responded well to that and that’s may be what I’m most proud of,” Bycroft said. “Looking back now, it could’ve been a huge turning point from where we were mentally, but it wasn’t. It was a turning point the other way. It was a catalyst. We moved on from that and then it ended up being Burlington who kind of melted down. And that was fun.”
The Mustangs hit four of their seven threes in the second half.
“In the past few games it’s felt like we’ve hit the same amount but we’ve shot a lot more,” Bycroft said. “We only shot 15 tonight and we made seven. That’s a lot different than last Friday where we went 7/22 at Chanute. And that’s huge. That’s seven more times where we took better shots. With the size we have, we don’t need to shoot 20 threes. 12 or 15 is great.”
