Iola High’s Dillon Bycroft inbounded the ball from the far sideline with 1.5 seconds to go and the Mustangs trailing Prairie View by one in the fourth quarter.
Bycroft found Landon Carson atop the key, but his 3-point attempt clanked the front of the rim while the final buzzer rang. The 52-51 loss was Iola’s second consecutive Pioneer League loss, moving them to 4-4 in league play.
“We couldn’t get defensive stops,” head coach Luke Bycroft said. “It didn’t matter what we tried to run defensively, we didn’t stop the ball. And when we did, we wouldn’t rebound the ball. We got a lot of rebounds, but we didn’t get the key rebounds after they missed a shot.”
Iola took an early lead after a dazzling up-and-under reverse layup from Cal Leonard followed by a pull-up jumper. The Mustangs led 12-10 heading into the second quarter in a back-in-forth affair.
Earlier in the season at Prairie View, Iola trailed by two after the first, and outscored the Buffaloes by 16 in the second to take a huge lead into the break, and went on to win 65-45. That wasn’t the case Tuesday.
The Mustangs’ largest lead came at 22-16 after Calvin Delich went coast-to-coast for the easy bucket with 2:30 left in the second. Delich led the Mustangs with 8 points in the first half, and remained neck-and-neck with a slim 24-22 lead heading into halftime.
In the third quarter, Prairie View’s Brock Heide exploded for 12 points in the period to help Prairie View draw even at 33-33 with a quarter to play. Heide finished with 17 points.
“We played behind him and let him catch the ball,” Bycroft said. “We teach front to post, front to cutter, and how many times did he catch it with a man on his back? He was just bigger than us.”
Iola led 48-46 after Bradyn Cole converted both attempts from the charity stripe with 2:30 remaining in the fourth. The Buffaloes responded with a three to retake the lead, and added a pair of free throws to lead by three, forcing an Iola timeout.
Out of the huddle, Leonard rattled home a catch-and-shoot to even the score at 51-51. After the defensive stop, Leonard did his best Patrick Mahomes impression with a full-court pass just ahead of Carson, who threw the ball back into play off a Prairie View defender to keep possession.
Cole received a wide open look underneath the rim, but couldn’t get it to fall. Heide converted 1 of 2 from the line, taking a one-point lead with 1.5 seconds remaining, and leading to Carson’s missed attempt at the horn.
“Until we learn how to handle success, and on the other end, respond to adversity, we are going to struggle,” Bycroft said. “If we don’t learn how to play some defense again soon, we might not win another game.”
Iola will host Anderson County in a league match-up on Friday in an attempt to get back on track and end its two-game slide.
Box Score
Iola (12-12-12-15—51) (pts): Bycroft 4, Leonard 17, Louk 3, Cole 9, Carson 2, Delich 8, Boeken 8.
Prairie View (10-12-16-14—52) (pts): Bloodgood 4, Scott 6, Wears 8, Robbisons 15, Heide 17, Partida 2.
