RICHMOND — Iola High School’s boys’ basketball team broke through for their first win on Friday against Pomona’s West Franklin High School. The win was in doubt for a while, but the Mustangs stormed back for a 52-47 win.
The Mustangs struggled out of the gates, turning the ball over and allowing West Franklin to set up makeable shots. With 20 seconds left in the quarter, Iola’s Brett Morrison stole the ball and allowed Eli Adams to get an open layup. The points off the defensive end helped close the Falcons’ lead to 15-12 at the end of the quarter.
Iola’s Tyler Boeken owned the second half and was almost unstoppable in the paint and on the defensive end, forcing West Franklin turnovers and getting points in the paint. With 3:30 left in the half, the Mustangs took their first lead of the day after a Mac Leonard jumper put Iola up 26-25. The Falcons responded by hitting a free throw to tie the game at 26. With 13 seconds left, the Falcons hit a short jumper to go up 28-26 at the half.
Boeken hit a layup out of the half to tie the game at 28 apiece. Just minutes later, Cooper Riley got a good look off a missed shot and put the Mustangs back on top 34-33. Iola used size to get key rebounds in the third quarter and turned them into points, helping fuel their run back into the lead. That lead would be short-lived, as the Falcons jumped back to a 42-40 lead after making a run toward the end of the quarter. West Franklin was able to set up better shots for their key shooters, who were on fire in the final few minutes of the quarter.
Boeken hit a layup out of the half to tie the game at 28. Just minutes later, Cooper Riley got a good look off a missed shot and put the Mustangs back on top 34-33.
Iola used size to get key rebounds in the third quarter and turned them into points, helping fuel their run back into the lead. That lead would be short-lived, as the Falcons jumped back to a 42-40 lead after making a run toward the end of the quarter. West Franklin was able to set up better shots for their key shooters, who were on fire in the final few minutes of the quarter.
Iola started the fourth quarter with a bang. Brett Morrison got to the foul line to slice the Falcons’ lead to 42-41, just seconds later, another Morrison free-throw tied the game. Iola took control after Landon Weide got a steal and went coast-to-coast for the bucket, giving Iola a 44-42 lead, their first since midway through the third quarter. The two teams exchanged the lead back and forth for the next few minutes.
A mid-range jumper with 2:20 left put Iola in front for good, 48-47, a lead they would expand until the buzzer sounded, thanks to two free throws by Weide and one by Adams.
“Obviously it feels good to win,” said Iola head coach Luke Bycroft. “It feels good not to give one away. There are still a lot of things to work on. The effort was better. The defensive rotations were better, we had a couple of guys respond to having to work their way back in. We showed progress offensively, we still missed some shots. We are still sloppy with the ball and that will be a problem if we don’t get it cleaned up.”
The Mustangs are back in action Tuesday at Burlington.
Iola (12-14-14-12—52) (FG/3pt): Weide 3-3-3-9 Adams 2-0-2-4 Fager 1-0-0-2 Carson 2-0-2-4 Riley 3-0-4-6 Leonard 2-0-0-4 Morrison 0-5-3-5 Boeken 9-0-2-18 Totals: 22/0-8-10-52
West Franklin (15-13-14-5—47) (FG/3pt): Gonzales 1-0-2-2 Froggette 2-1-2-8 Criqui 6-0-5-13 Rogers 6-0-4-15 Hassler 0-3-3-3 Love 3-0-2-6 totals: 12/6-5-20-47
