LA CYGNE — After taking to the court less than 48 hours after a bitter overtime defeat at Burlington, Iola High’s Mustangs had a halftime lead Thursday at Prairie View.
But head coach Luke Bycroft was anything but happy.
The Mustangs held a 26-19 advantage, but were letting Prairie View dictate the game’s pace.
“They played hard and aggressive, maybe even a little out of control,” Bycroft said. “We let that lead us into playing the same way.”
So Byroft spent much of the halftime break repeating his pregame warning: “Don’t let their chaos lead to our chaos.”
“But at halftime, we addressed it a little more vigorously than I did during the game,” Bycroft said. “I was a little calmer before the game than I was at halftime.”
After the halftime chewing out, the Mustangs approached the third quarter with a bit more focus.
The lead swelled to double digits on Matt Beckmon’s 3-pointer 90 seconds into the second half, and Iola never looked back.
The Mustangs ended the game with a 21-2 run to cruise to a 56-27 win, improving to 4-2 at the Christmas break.
“Once we took care of the ball, we were fine,” Bycroft said. “It just took us a while to play well.”
The Mustangs were trailing 8-5 late in the first quarter before taking the lead on an 11-2 run.
The margin stayed near the half-dozen mark for the balance of the half.
“We were just sloppy with the ball, and we got in a hurry,” Bycroft said. “That’s exactly what they wanted.”
His message at the break was simple.
“I vocalized exactly what my expectations were, and I told each player that if that doesn’t happen, they will come sit down next to me.”
Message received.
With much crisper passing, and with Beckmon’s outside shooting, Iola soon found a litany of easy scoring opportunities down the stretch.
“As long as we were disciplined on defense, we were OK,” Bycroft said. “A few times we got sloppy, and they got some easy shots. And there were a couple of times they hit some tough shots where we guarded them well.”
