RICHMOND — Iola High capped a busy week on a dour note Saturday.
The Mustangs, playing their fourth game in eight days, fell behind in the third quarter to West Franklin and could never catch up in a 63-51 loss.
The defeat came in the championship game of the Ike Cearfoss Memorial Tournament.
The determinant factors were West Franklin’s offensive rebounds, and a Falcon zone that caused Iola’s offense to go dormant after halftime.
“We weren’t as tough as we needed to be on the boards,” Iola head coach Luke Bycroft said. “We gave up a lot of offensive rebounds, and gave them some second-chance points.”
Iola trailed 19-27 headed into the third quarter, when West Franklin went to a zone defense.
“We really got stagnant, even though we took decent looks from 3. Even when we got open looks, they weren’t on crisp passes. We just did not move the ball well.”
Iola was a cool 3 of 19 from 3-point range.
West Franklin extended its lead to double digits by the end of the period, 48-36, and did just enough to stay ahead down the stretch.
Cortland Carson led Iola with 20 points, including 9-of-10 shooting from the line, and pulled down eight rebounds.
Landon Weide added 12 points, six assists, and a pair of steals. Matt Beckmon had four assists.
West Franklin had four players in double figures, led by Hunter Criqui with 17.
“We talked about them being quick up and down the floor, and we matched that in the first half,” Bycroft said. “But on drives, they did a good job of attacking deep, and we were slow to rotate to help. That led to some open jump shots for them.
“We may have been a little fatigued, but I hate to use that as an excuse,” he continued. “These guys have gone hard, but they’re young and resilient.”
Iola (3-1) plays Tuesday at Burlington and Thursday at Prairie View.
Iola (9-18-9-15—51)
FG/3pt FT F TP
Weide 5 2 2 12
Bauer 1/1 0 5 5
Dougherty 1 1 3 3
Beckmon 1/1 0 1 5
Carson 4/1 9 3 20
Maier 3 0 1 6
W. Franklin (9-20-19-15—63)
Criqui 5/2 1 3 17
Abarca 1 1 2 3
McMahan 5 1 3 11
Nichols 6 1 3 13
Prouty 2/3 2 1 15
Froggatte 0/1 1 1 4
