The junior varsity prevailed while the varsity struggled Monday night when the Iola Middle School boys traveled to take on Anderson County.
The seventh-grade junior varsity kicked things off with a 14-13 nailbiter overtime victory.
The Ponies led 5-2 after the first quarter but a 6-0 second quarter from Anderson County gave the Bulldogs an 8-5 advantage headed into the half. The Ponies held Anderson County scoreless in the third quarter while scoring two and outscoring the Bulldogs 3-2 in the fourth quarter to take the game to overtime.
Iola ended overtime with a one-point advantage to get the win.
Jakoby Wilson had six points and a rebound in the in the win along with four points for Justin McCullough and three for Kaster Trabuc. Jack White scored a point.
Then the eighth-grade junior varsity followed that up with a 19-16 win.
The Ponies took a four-point lead into halftime and pushed it to five after the third quarter. A furious eight points in the fourth quarter from Anderson County nearly took the game away but six points from Iola kept the Bulldogs at bay and got them the win.
T.J. Taylor and Brett Willis each had six points followed by five points and a team-high five rebounds for Colin Long. Devon Wilson had two points.
Then the struggle started for Iola as the seventh-grade varsity lost 33-36 in a come-from-behind win for Anderson County.
Iola led 20-12 at halftime and by 25-14 headed into the fourth quarter but a 22-8 final period for the Bulldogs gave them the edge they needed to take the game.
“The kids played hard tonight,” head coach Scott Ellis said. “We got into foul trouble early but the boys off the bench did their part. We just fell short at end of the game. We need to play better defense and take care of the ball.”
Iola had 24 turnovers in the game.
Eli Adams had 11 points followed by eight for Carter Hutton. Preston Hurst had six and Jack White and Jake Skahan each had four. Brandon McKarnin and Hurst each had a team-high three rebounds. Hutton had three assists.
The eighth-grade varsity closed out the night with a 21-46 loss.
“It was a tough night for us defensively against a high scoring percentage Anderson County team,” Ellis said. “We played a better second half but had a big hole to dig out of. I would like to see our offense get going with more movement and aggressiveness earlier in the ballgame.”
The Bulldogs jumped out to a big 27-10 lead at the half and stretched it to a 43-13 lead headed into the fourth quarter. Iola outscored Anderson County 8-3 in the fourth but the damage was done.
Karson Sigg and Sean Hurst each had six points in the win and T.J. Taylor, Cooper Riley, Trenton Varney and Tyler Boeken each scored two points. Sam Fager had a point.
Hurst led the team in rebounds with four and Sigg had the team’s lone steal.
Iola will return home on Thursday to face Burlington.
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