Comets overcome Mustangs in OT

An inability to take care of the little things turned into a big problem for Iola High’s boys.
After struggling mightily to catch up with Chanute all night Tuesday, and finally doing so on a thrilling basket by Adam Kauth about a second before the final horn sounded to force overtime, the Mustangs had all the momentum in the world.
Things looked even brighter as Iola opened the extra frame with a 7-1 run to lead 62-56 with just over 2 minutes on the clock.
But when it appeared Iola had things in hand, Chanute answered with a flourish.
The Blue Comets scored nine unanswered points over 90 seconds to reassume the upper hand.
Iola’s last-gasp efforts to force a second overtime went for naught when the buzzer sounded as the Mustangs tried for an offensive rebound on an intentionally missed free throw by Mason Coons.
Chanute’s 67-64 victory drops Iola’s record to 2-4 as the Mustangs enter their Christmas break.
“It’s frustrating because we’re not paying attention to the details, and it’s preventing us from being as good as we want to be,” Mustang coach Bill Peeper said. “Our effort to get back into the game all night was so superb. And to see us let up like we had it under control was disappointing.”
The game quickly swung in the Blue Comets’ favor on a driving
layup by Jordan Richards, followed in short order with a 3-pointer by the Chanute’s Brock Gilmore to cut the Iola lead to one, 62-61. A bad pass inside was picked off by Caleb Dietch, who scored inside to give the Blue Comets the lead for good.
Tyler Powelson followed with a miss for Iola, and Gilmore’s bucket with about 20 seconds remaining put Chanute on top 65-62. A pair of Derek Sharp free throws gave the Comets a 67-63 lead with 8 seconds left.
Coons was fouled with about a second left. He hit the first free throw before intentionally missing the second. Both teams scrambled for the ball as time ran out.
“It felt like we assumed we had it in the bag,” Peeper said. “We gave them way too much slack on defense. We didn’t take care of the details.”
A familiar bugaboo reared its ugly head early on as Iola started slowly on offense, while Chanute was on fire from outside.
The Blue Comets led 12-4 midway through the first quarter, forcing Iola into an exasperating game of catch-up for the next 3½ quarters.
Iola closed to within two points late in the second quarter, then to within a point, 33-32, at the 5:19 mark of the third quarter before Chanute responded both times to retain and extend its lead.
The Blue Comets led 52-44 when  Coons drained a 3-pointer a short while later to trigger a frenetic 11-3 run over the final 3:11 of regulation. Iola held Chanute without a basket over the final two-plus minutes, and the Blue Comets missed 3 of 4 free throws — including two front ends of one-and-one attempts — to aid the comeback.
Trent Latta’s 3-pointer preceded two buckets by Kauth, the first on a putback after Tyler Powelson missed a pair of free throws with 29 seconds left on the clock.
Chanute’s Seb Fairchild missed both of his free throw attempts with 18 seconds left on the clock to set up Kauth’s buzzer-beater, a driving layup from the corner.
“It was nice to see Adam get those baskets because he was struggling earlier,” Peeper said. “Levi Ashmore and Trent both made big plays for us.”
Ashmore led the way with 15 points, followed by Latta and Coons with 13 apiece. Kauth had nine points and Powelson had eight. Coons and Powelson led Iola with 12 and nine rebounds, respectively.
“But the rest of our team combined only had eight rebounds,” Peeper said. “That was a problem.”
Ashmore had seven assists and Kauth had three. Latta, Ashmore, Kauth and Tyler McIntosh each had two steals.
“We’ve got a lot to work on over the break,” Peeper said.
Gilmore scored 19 to lead Chanute, followed by Sharp with 14 and Richards with 13.
Chanute’s junior varsity also won a nailbiter against the Mustangs, 48-47.
Fryendz Wallace led Iola’s JV with 10 points, followed by Shane Walden with nine points, Kaden Macha with eight and Kohl Endicott with seven. Jesse Zimmerman scored six and Alex Bauer and Bryan Mueller had two points apiece.
Chanute won the C team contest 51-39. Peterson and Walden scored 11 and 10 points, respectively, to lead Iola. Colby Works scored seven, Sager Patel had six and Gus Hopkins and Dodger Beckham had two each. Bauer scored one.
Iola resumes play Jan. 4 at home against Osawatomie.
Chanute (19-11-13-12-12—67)
Iola (12-13-14-16-9—64)
Chanute (FG/3pt-FT-F-TP): Fairchild 2-0-5-4, Martin 1-0-2-2, Gilmore 5/2-3-3-19, Richards 5/1-0-3-13, Dietsch 2/1-2-3-9, Sharp 3/2-2-2-14, Ellis 2-0-1-4. TOTALS: 21/6-7-19-67.
Iola (FG/3pt-FT-F-TP): Latta 3/2-1-4-13, Ashmore 3/1-6-3-15, Coons 0/4-1-3-13, McIntosh 1-0-3-2, Macha 2-0-3-4, Kauth 3-3-2-9, Powelson 3-2-2-8. TOTALS: 15/7-13-20-64.