OSAWATOMIE — Luke Bycroft, head coach for the Iola Mustangs, knows he’s going to have to better prepare his boys for playing on the road.
On Tuesday, the Mustangs lost by one point at Osawatomie, home of the Trojans, despite winning in a 20-point blowout back in Iola earlier in the season. The Mustangs secured a 64-44 win over Osawatomie on Jan 31.
And coming off a 79-59 win over Anderson County, the Mustangs regained their position at No. 10 in the class 4A state rankings.
Frustratingly, every time Iola has been ranked this season, they’ve lost their next game. On Tuesday, the Trojans defeated the Mustangs 53-50.
“It’s about having the right mindset,” Bycroft said. “We think that we are good and that things are going to be easy and not have to outwork somebody.
“But we have to outwork somebody every night. We are better than these teams, but if we don’t outwork them, they are going to beat us.”
Picking up from where he left off on Friday after scoring a season-high 32 points, Landon Carson scored Iola’s first eight points off a steal and fast-break score followed by a pair of 3-pointers. But the Trojans didn’t back down. Osawatomie connected on five first-half treys, including four from Chris Pursley to lead by six heading into the second.
Iola failed to find any fluidity to its offense in the second quarter, being outpaced by two to trail 28-20 at intermission. The Mustang failure to close out on Pursley at the perimeter put Iola in a hole it could have avoided.
“We could have gone out and guarded those guys and got them off the line,” Bycroft said. “We sat there and let them catch and shoot. We are supposed to make them out the ball on the floor, and force it into our help defense.”
Bycroft’s halftime pep talk failed to fire up the Mustangs in the second half. The Trojans executed a 10-4 run, taking a 14-point lead in the early stages of the second half. Iola fought back after a pair of buckets from Cal Leonard to trail 42-34 heading into the fourth.
Down 47-40 with 5:11 remaining, the Mustangs began their comeback. An 8-0 run capped off by a jumper from Leonard in traffic gave Iola its first lead since the first quarter. The Mustangs fouled Osawatomie on their next defensive possession, and the Trojans sank both charities to regain a one-point edge.
Iola was forced to foul after a turnover, but regained possession after the first attempt of a 1-and-1. Bycroft called a timeout, and drew up a play for point guard Calvin Delich, but his left-handed floater in the lane missed, forcing another Iola foul with less than 15 seconds to go.
The Trojans misfired at the line, but controlled the rebound as Iola was forced to foul once more. Osawatomie sunk both attempts to take a 53-50 lead with 7.5 seconds left, giving Iola one more shot to take the game into overtime, but Leonard’s 3-point attempt rimmed out just before the buzzer.
The loss moves Iola to 5-5 in Pioneer League play.
“Part of the problem is that we don’t respect them as being a good team,” Bycroft said. “So when we come here, we think they are going to roll over and play dead, but obviously that is not the case,” said Bycroft.
Iola will be on the road for its final two games of the regular season. The Mustangs travel to Wellsville on Tuesday, followed by Santa Fe Trail on Thursday.
