LA CYGNE — Iola High School’s four-game losing streak came to an end Tuesday night with a 69-31 blowout of the Prairie View Buffaloes (2-13, 0-8).
Hot off breaking the IHS career scoring record, senior guard Cortland Carson exploded with 11 of his team-leading 24 points in the first quarter, putting the Buffalos away early.
Iola now turns its attention to a more formidable opponent in Anderson County (11-4, 5-3) Friday, and Iola coach Luke Bycroft appreciated his team’s effort.
“When we played them before Christmas, we left them in the game the whole time. We did not put them away. Tonight, we did what we needed to do put them away.”
Although having the hot hand Tuesday, Carson was far from the only productive Mustang.
Senior forwards Lucas Maier and Grady Dougherty worked the paint early with a pair of buckets, making Prairie View susceptible to Carson on the perimeter once the Buffalos clamped down. As the Buffalos struggled with Iola’s inside-outside attack, the Mustangs continued their offensive. Maier ended the night second scoring 10 points, with most coming in the first half. Aside from Maier’s pair of close-range buckets, all of Iola’s second-quarter buckets came from behind the 3-point line with guards Matt Beckmon, Nick Bauer and Carson hitting pay dirt.
“We played with energy. We attacked the basket,” Bycroft said. “We found some pretty good shots and we shared the ball. I feel good about how we came out and played. This gives us a chance to build momentum.”
After going into halftime ahead 36-19, Bycroft substituted his starters early in the third quarter. Instead of seeing a drop-off in production, reserves Gavin Jones, Austin Crooks, Reed Clift and Hayden Kelley provided 24 points in the second half.
“We have a lot of depth. We have guys who can play and contribute,” Bycroft said. “It’s fun to see those guys get out there. They work their tails off. They challenge the old guys. They challenge each other. They make us better.”
With the win, Iola improves to 6-11 and 3-7 in the Pioneer League. With only a few games left in the season, the Mustangs will not break into the top three in conference standings, but they can play spoiler for Anderson County and Wellsville (10-5, 5-3), who are tied for third place. During their previous encounter last January, Anderson County demolished Iola 68-46, but Bycroft believes the Mustangs were a much different team more than three months ago.
“It was the first game of the year, and we did not show up,” Bycroft said. “It was a good game for about a quarter. We match up pretty well with them. They have one big kid that’s hard to guard, but other than that we’re deeper than they are. I’m excited about it because it shows if we’ve grown up a little bit.”
Iola (20-16-18-15—69)
FG/3pt FT F TP
Crooks 1/1 0 1 5
Bauer 1/2 0 0 8
Jones 2/0 0 0 4
Dougherty 1/0 0 0 2
Beckmon 0/2 0 0 6
Kelley 1/1 0 1 5
Carson 4/4 4 0 24
Coffield 0 1 0 1
Wilson 1 0 3 2
Clift 1 0 0 2
Maier 5 0 1 10
Totals 15 6 8 69
PV (10-9-7-5 — 31)
Hopper 3 1 0 7
Sramek 3/1 1 2 10
Fleer 2/1 0 3 7
Shelton 1 0 1 2
Cervantes 1 0 0 2
Ramber 1 0 0 3
Vitali 0 0 2 0
