LACYGNE — The Mustangs are entering their Christmas break at a crossroads.
After Friday’s 45-40 loss to Prairie View in LaCygne, the team has now dropped two-consecutive league games to begin the Pioneer League season.
The start of the season, which began so promising with a victory in Girard – at the time the fourth-ranked team in Kansas – and a victory over Metro Academy in the first round of the Central Heights Tournament, has now taken a turn and the Mustangs have gone 1-3 in their last four games.
With a 0-2 mark in the league, the Mustangs have forced themselves to put a huge onus on coming off the Christmas vacation with a strong start to climb out of the Pioneer League’s basement.
Iola got off to a strong start against the Buffalos by taking a 10-9 lead after the first quarter and getting their junior post players Ethan Holloway and Evan Sigg established early with four points each.
The Mustangs went away from their big guys later in the game, however as the duo combined for only four more points the remainder of the game and Sigg was shutout.
Despite the lack of interior production, the Iola lead grew in the second quarter, The Mustangs took a 19-16 lead into intermission.
The third quarter has been the nemesis for the Mustangs lately and proved to be that way again as Prairie surged ahead and took a 30-29 lead in the final stanza.
The fourth quarter has been kind to the veteran Mustangs in their wins, but the Buffalos would not give up momentum.
The Prairie View inside-out combination of Justin Peine and Blake Boedicker was too much to overcome.
Boedicker finished with 17 points and hit four three-pointers while Peine was a force inside with 15 points.
The Buffalos made their free throws down the stretch and ended up with the five-point victory.
Iola senior Ben Cooper led the team with 14 points and hit four three-pointers.
Holloway added eight points and Isaiah Fawson finished with seven.
The Mustangs only got to the free throw line five times in the entire game, while the Buffalos got there 21 times.
