LOUISBURG — Four of the first five field goals hit by Iola High’s Mustangs in Monday’s opening-round game against Burlington High’s Wildcats were threes. The Mustangs started out with a hot hand from outside the arc and ended draining 10 of 18 free throw attempts in the final three minutes.
In between, there was a lot of “trust” by the Mustangs that each player would do his job even when the lead disappeared and they were down by five points. If that had happened last year — which it did — Iola would have not have recovered.
New season and new attitude.
The Mustangs didn’t fold when the Wildcats charged back at them and took the lead with 3:50 remaining in the game, 44-39. No, the Mustangs went on an 11-0 run, regaining the lead and pushed on for a 55-47 win.
Iola has already doubled its winning total from last year in the first two games of the season. The Mustangs are 1-0 in the 2011 Bulldog/Wildcat Classic hosted by Louisburg High School.
Tonight, the Mustangs take on Louisburg in their second pool game of the event. Louisburg and Burlington play on Thursday.
In the other three-team pool Monday, Baldwin edged Chanute 59-57 in overtime. Baldwin plays Anderson County tonight then Chanute plays Anderson County Thursday.
The tournament concludes Friday. The second-place teams from each pool play at 4 p.m. and the third-place teams from each pool play at 5:45 p.m. The top two teams from each pool play for the championship at 7:30 p.m.
“We had several key moments in the game. I thought we started off on fire and we had a strong end to the game. We played pretty sluggishly in the middle,” said Bill Peeper, Mustang head coach.
“But these kids are more confident in themselves this year that when a team comes back on us like that, they trust each other to make a big shot, get a defensive stop or hit a free throw. That’s what happened tonight.”
The Mustangs hit three consecutive three-point field goals to open the game. Levi Ashmore and Jarred Latta put Iola up 6-0. In between threes by Clint Heffern, Jerrik Sigg scored a basket. Iola had a 14-2 lead at the 5:35 mark of the first quarter.
Burlington’s 6-7 senior Blake Thomsen drilled a trey late in the first period. The Wildcats had pulled back to within six, 17-11.
The game was on as Iola had a 14-12 scoring edge in the second quarter. The Wildcats got a three-point play from Ryan Redding just before halftime, making it 31-24.
Burlington kept pressure on Iola in third stanza. A basket by Braden Larson had Iola up 38-30 with 2:32 left in the period but a three by Korbin Ratzloff and a basket by Marshall Moore made it a three-point game heading into the final eight minutes.
A field goal by Thomsen tied the game at 39-39 at the 6:25 mark. Iola turned the ball over and Thomsen gave the Wildcats their first lead of the night with a three-pointer. Another bucket by Thomsen pushed Burlington to a 44-39 lead with 3:50 on the clock.
“Levi hit a big three for us and we took a timeout to catch our breath,” Peeper said. “Another key play came when Jerrik knocked the ball away, dived on the floor for the ball and Christian (Kauth) ran it down for us.”
Sigg dropped in two free throws to tie the game a 44-44. Ashmore gave the lead back to Iola from the free-throw line, hitting one of two. Ashmore created a tie-up following his missed second attempt and Iola had the ball again.
This time Sigg stepped back and nailed a three-pointer with 1:55 left. The Mustangs had the momentum.
Corey Taylor and Christian Kauth had big rebounds late. Taylor, Sigg, Heffern and Ashmore walked to the line and hit free throws down the stretch. Iola was 15 of 27 from the line overall while Burlington went 6 of 11.
Heffern paced the Mustangs with 15 points, which included three treys. Ashmore was 5 of 6 at the line as he produced 11 points. Iola had nine players score in the game.
“That’s what we like to see. Everybody who played tonight contributed in some way,” Peeper said. “Corey Taylor had a great game. The difference this year is the level of trust they have for each other to get the job done.”
Thomsen was the lone Wildcat player in double-figure scoring with 22 points.
Iola (17-14-7-16—55) (FG/3-pt): Heffern 2/3-2-3-15, Ashmore 0/2-5-2-11, Bossell 1-0-1-2, J. Latta 0/1-1-0-4, Sigg 1/1-3-3-8, Taylor 0-2-2-2, Conner 0-0-1-0, Larson 2-1-3-5, Walden 0/1-0-0-3, Kauth 2-1-1-5. TOTALS: 7/8-15-16-55.
Burlington (12-12-11-12—47) (FG/3-pt): Redding 3-1-3-7, Mahoney 0-0-2-0, Shedd 0-3-1-3, Shell 0-0-4-0, Ratzloff 2/1-0-2-7, Foster 0-0-2-0, Schepers 3-0-2-6, Moore 1-0-3-2, Thomsen 7/2-2-2-22. TOTALS: 16/3-6-21-47.
Mustangs turn away Wildcats
