Caney ends Mustang run

After fighting back to make it a two-possession game before halftime, the Iola Mustangs fell following a 21-point third quarter by the Caney Valley Bullpups, who next face Burlington in the sub-state finals Friday.

March 6, 2025 - 3:14 PM

Iola High School senior guard Cortland Carson (13) goes up for a shot in the fourth quarter of Wednesday’s sub-state semifinals game against Caney Valley. Photo by Jimmy Potts / Iola Register

CANEY — The Iola High School Mustangs’ season came to an end Wednesday following a 56-39 loss to Caney Valley in the sub-state semifinals.

A slow start doomed the Mustangs’ early. They clawed back into the contest by halftime only for the Caney Valley Bullpups to pull away with 21 points in the third quarter.

“The things we needed to do, that we worked on, we got away from pretty early,” Iola coach Luke Bycroft said. “With the pressure on the perimeter, they were playing physical against Cortland (Carson), which we’re used to. That’s normal. He got sped up tonight. He wasn’t patient enough, but we weren’t patient enough.”

The Bullpups forced Iola to pick their points the hard way in the first quarter. Except for a drive to the basket by IHS senior Carson, who scored a team-leading 10 points, all of Iola’s first quarter production came from the free-throw line. A pair of consecutive 3-pointers by senior guard Matt Beckmon made it a two-possession game going into halftime with the Mustangs down 24-19.

senior guard Matt Beckmon (5) puts in a second consecutive 3-pointer during the second quarter.

“We got looks at the rim. We did not hit them all, but when we reversed the ball — because of how hard they were doubling Cortland — we had opportunities on the backside,” Bycroft said. “We didn’t take advantage of it. We didn’t move the ball enough. Defensively, we were OK, but we didn’t rebound as well as we needed to.”

That was as close to victory as Iola got. Caney Valley sealed the contest before the fourth quarter after putting up 21 points in the third. With Iola in foul trouble entering the final period, any hope of a comeback evaporated as the Bullpups extended their lead from the free-throw line.

“We were really poor at our shot selections. The things we needed to do we did not do,” Bycroft said. “Caney has a lot of pieces. They have one main guy and they have a lot of pieces around him that play off him well. Tonight, we missed a lot of shots. If we hit a few of those it changes the direction (of the game).”

With the loss, Iola ends the 2024-2025 season 9-12 overall. Despite falling Wednesday, the Mustangs ended their season on a relative high note. They won four of their last six games, including a 56-54 upset of Pioneer League rival Anderson County and last Friday’s 65-49 postseason upset of the higher-seeded Riverton Rams (12-8), who were also a conference runner-up.

“We didn’t have as successful a season as we wanted to have, but they never stopped putting the work in,” Bycroft said. “These last two weeks of practice have been the best two weeks we’ve had. That’s not always the case when you get to this point in the season, and that says a lot about who this group of seniors are and who they are going to be as men moving forward.”

While graduating seven players from his varsity roster is difficult already, Bycroft will also have to find a replacement for Carson — IHS’ all-time leading scorer. Instead of looking at next season as a rebuild, Bycroft hopes next year’s Mustangs feel inspired by Carson and the other seniors.

“This is a big group, and they’ve been playing together for a long time,” Bycroft said. “They’ve given a lot to the program. It’s going to hurt us a lot, because this is a group of seniors that I really value, how hard they work, how hard they challenge each other and what they give to the team. You have seniors some years who are just OK with being seniors. This group really wanted to work.”