OSAWATOMIE — The Iola Mustangs’ slide down the Pioneer Conference standings continues after falling 49-32 to Osawatomie (8-5, 1-4) Thursday.
With Iola scoring only twice in the first quarter, the Mustangs faced an uphill battle for the majority of the game.
“I feel horrible about the game tonight. We did not show up on either end of the floor. We did not read on the ball well enough, which is something we’ve been struggling and working on,” Coach Luke Bycroft said. “Offensively, we have to have some guys step up and make some plays. They were doubling [senior Courtland Carson]. He’s our primary scorer and every team is going to try and double him and take him away. We’ve been doing better things about it lately, just not tonight.”
Despite the slow start, the Mustangs remained in contention through the first half, trailing by 18-13 before opening the third quarter. In the second half, the Mustangs struggled to stop 6-4 Trojan junior Jasper Sallee, who scored the majority of his team-leading 29 points in the third quarter. After going down 11 points late in the third quarter, and putting the Trojans in the bonus, both coaches began pulling their starters to rest them for Friday’s games. Senior Matt Beckmon scored a team-leading 12 points, followed by senior Lucas Maier with 5 points, and seniors Grady Dougherty and senior Jordy Kauffman with 3 points each.
“It’s frustrating. We see all of the things we’ve been working on and glimpses where we’re getting better, then we have a game tonight where our boys thought we’d beat them because we usually do,” Bycroft said. “Our boys overlooked them and didn’t realize [Osawatomie] is big. They’re physical and they’re going to play hard. They have a couple of kids who can score too, and they’re tough to guard. Our kids thought we were going to come and win. It doesn’t work like that.”
With the loss, the Mustangs fall to 5-9 overall and 1-6 in conference play.
Friday’s contest against the 11-2 Chanute Comets exits conference play.
Bycroft said he hopes his team will play up to Chanute’s level of competition and snap their four-game losing streak.
“Chanute is going to be a much tougher game than this. They’re dangerous,” Bycroft said.
The Mustangs return to Pioneer Conference play Tuesday for a road game rematch against Prairie View. The Mustangs previously defeated Prairie View 56-44 last December, but Coach Bycroft has no plans of overlooking the 2-11 Buffalos following Thursday’s blowout. With the season winding down, Bycroft believes the Mustangs must build confidence in order to succeed.
“We’re begging these guys to just be aggressive. That’s what we’re searching for right now, some guys with the confidence to go make the plays that need to be made,” Bycoft said.
THE Mustang junior varsity emerged with a 49-29 win.
Hayden Kelley led the way with 17. Brennen Coffield was next with eight points, Keegan Hill scored six, Mosiah Fawson five, Reed Clift four, Gavin Jones and Jase Herrmann three apiece and Austin Crooks two.
Iola also picked up a 63-47 win in C team action, behind Clift’s 19 points. Fawson was next with 13. Colton Thompson added six, Otto Malloy scored five, and Kaeden Vega and Hill scored four each.
Iola (6-7-10-9—332)
FG/3pt FT F TP
Crooks 0 0 1 0
Bauer 1 2 3 4
Dougherty 0/1 0 2 3
Beckmon 2/3 0 3 13
Kelley 1 0 0 2
Carson 0 2 5 2
Kaufman 0/1 0 1 3
Maier 2 1 2 5
Totals 6/5 5 17 32
Osawatomie (8-10-16-15—49)
Burchett 0 0 1 0
Gibson 0 0 2 0
Fennel 2 3 2 7
Sallee 8/2 7 3 29
Crokett 3 2 0 8
Stevenson 1 1 4 3
Flanagan 1 0 4 2
Totals 15/2 13 16 49
