YATES CENTER — Iola High School boys basketball team started strong, but finished flat in a 57-46 loss to Cherryvale on Thursday night.
The Mustangs scampered out to a 12-6 lead early and held the lead for much of the first half. Iola couldn’t keep control of the ball and squandered their lead as halftime approached.
Cherryvale’s Stetson Hemple-Schafer was dominant, scoring 19 points on the night to lead the Chargers. Seven of those were in the first half, after going down early with an ankle issue.
Cherryvale led 27-22 at half after pulling the lead away late.
Iola went on an 8-2 run to open the second half, fueled by a dominant performance by Tyler Boeken. Boeken slayed the Chargers in the paint early in the half only to have the turnover bug hit Iola again.
Cherryvale took advantage of the turnovers and poor offensive rebounding by Iola to take the lead.
Cherryvale’s defense forced turnovers and the offense converted them into points. Iola got the lead down to seven in the fourth, but every time the Mustangs charged back, Cherryvale put a stop to it.
Without the turnovers and extra possessions Iola gave Cherryvale, the game could have been much different. Iola put up 52 shots from the field, making only 19, with Cherryvale getting rebounds on the missed shots more often than not.
Both teams were limited offensively as only five players scored for each. Iola made mental mistakes that cost them the game in one of their most frustrating performances of the season so far.
“We had a lapse defensively in the second quarter,” said Iola head coach Luke Bycroft. “We had the lead for most of the first half and near the end and missed some offensive rebounds which plagued us. In the third quarter we came out ready to go but in the last two minutes of the third we let them have offensive rebounds and got sloppy with the ball.”
Iola (14-8-10-14—46)
Boeken 8 1 4 17, Weide 1 3 2 5, Adams 2 2 2 6, Fager 3 2 2 8, Riley 4 0 3 8, Morrison 2 0 2 2. TOTALS 20 8 15 46
Cherryvale (13-14-13-17—57)
Elam 3 1 2 7. Hey 1/2 1 3 9, Knight 0/2 2 5 8 , Adkinson 3/1 5 1 14, Schafer 5/1 6 5 19. TOTALS 12/6 15 16 57
