The stage was set. Retro warmups, an electric homecoming crowd, and a chance for the Iola Mustangs to gain ground on Pioneer League rival Burlington.
Iola stood at 4-2 in the league, one game behind the Wildcats. Last time around at Burlington the Wildcats handed Iola a 62-49 loss.
While Iola intended to flip the score, it was no match for Burlington’s physicality for the second straight time this season, losing 80-51.
“It was the worst defense we’ve played all year,” Bycroft said. “We were just dead on defense, didn’t help at all, and they got to the rim any time they wanted. We did nothing to stop the ball to get to the rim. Nothing.”
Burlington opened with a 6-2 lead after a pair of 3-pointers, but buckets from Bradyn Cole, Dillon Bycroft and Tyler Boeken gave Iola a two-point edge, its only lead of the game.
The Mustangs trailed 10-8 after the first with no Iola guards providing any scoring production. Cal Leonard scored the first basket by a guard from Iola with 4:41 remaining in the first half to bring Iola within four. Even deep into the second half the Mustang still could not gel on offense.
The biggest bright spot for Iola in the first half was Dillon, who scored 10 of his team-high 12 points in the first half. The Mustangs trailed 34-23 after Calvin Delich’s 3-pointer was canceled out by a Wildcat trey that beat the buzzer.
In the third Iola trailed by as many as 16, and was victim of another buzzer beater to trail by 15 after three. Landon Carson rimmed out a 3-pointer to open the fourth, an effort that could have sparked a Mustang comeback. The Wildcats outscored the Mustangs by 14 in the fourth, handing Iola the 29-point loss.
The loss may have nixed Iola’s chances of winning the Pioneer League.
“We’ve dug ourselves a hole now,” Bycroft said .“Now we’ve lost to them both times, and have two more losses than they do. A lot would have to happen for us to still win the league at this point. We needed this game.”
Near the halfway mark in the second quarter, Iola’s backup guard Nathan Louk appeared to be swiped in the face by a Burlington player. The referees called no foul which led to a response from the Mustang crowd.
Later in the period, Delich received a technical foul after showing distaste to the official. Bycroft earned a technical foul in the final minutes of the game, expressing his feelings on the way the game was officiated. The Mustangs made only one trip to the charity strip through four quarters.
“We have to be better than that, and handle it,” Bycroft said. “Yeah the officiating was bad, there is no hiding that, you can go watch the game film. It did affect us, but it shouldn’t. We have to be better.”
The Mustang will be back at home on Tuesday to host Prairie View.
BOX SCORE
Iola (8-15-16-12—51) (pts): Bycroft 12, Leonard 6, Cole 8, Carson 9, Delich 6, Boeken 10.
Burlington (10-24-20-26—80) (pts): Burns 2, Bahr 5, Brown 18, Anderson 2, Haselhuhn 8, Slayer 2, Smith 8, Hegwald 9, Kuhlman 5, Smith 2, Rand 2, Payer 2, Meats 15.
