Iola Middle School’s boys basketball team had a rough go of it Saturday at their annual tournament. The Mustangs went 1-2. Iola lost to Humboldt 10-9 and lost 27-18 to Pittsburg. To round out the day, the Mustangs defeated Independence 27-4.
In the first game against Humboldt, Iola came out sluggish and struggled to score early. Many of Iola’s shots failed to hit the backboard, leading to easy rebounds for the Cubs.
Humboldt took advantage and led 8-3 at the half.
At the start of the second half, Iola went on a 4-0 run thanks to sound defense and a run of poor shooting by the Cubs.
The run allowed Iola to get back in the game and give Humboldt fits for much of the third quarter.
The Iola run was snapped when Humboldt’s Thatcher Mueller went 2-2 from the free throw line with mere minutes left to extend the Cub lead to 10-7.
Iola turnovers cost the Mustangs multiple shots to come back late in the game.
With three seconds left, Iola had Trapper Boren on the free throw line for three shots trailing by three. Boren hit two of the three and Humboldt ran out the clock.
Boren led with four points. James Hunt and Ben Kerr both had two. Ruger Boren had one.
Both teams came out sloppy in the Mustangs second game of the day against Pittsburg.
