Iola High’s boys picked up their second win in a row the hard way Friday, in defeating Anderson County 50-48. The Mustangs led by 16 in the second half, but it took a pair of Landon Weide free throws with 12 seconds left and a defensive stop in the waning seconds to secure the win Iola was propelled by 14-point games from Cortland Carson and Tyler Boeken but got behind 4-0 early. Once Iola scored, the Mustangs went on a 10-0 run, capped by a Weide 3-pointer. The Bulldogs scored, but Iola came back again. Eli Adams hit a jumper at the first quarter buzzer to put the Mustangs up 14-8. Iola dominated on the boards and stretched to a 21-8 lead with 5 minutes left in the half. Anderson County tried to mount a charge as the half came to a close but Iola still led 24-11 at the break. Iola dominated to start the second half and opened up a 42-26 lead but Anderson County would not be denied and went on a 10-3 run to make the game 45-40 in the fourth quarter. Anderson County’s Reese Katzer scored the next four for the Bulldogs to bring Iola’s lead to a single point, 45-44. Boeken went to the line with about a minute left and made one of two free throws to put the Mustangs up 46-44 but Anderson County tied it again. The lead flip-flopped once more before the Bulldogs fouled Weide with 12 seconds left. Weide hit both free throws to put Iola up 50-48. The Mustangs defense took care at the other end of the floor to give Iola its first winning streak of the season. “We did a good job in the first three quarters battling and rebounding,” said Iola head coach Luke Bycroft. “We were just bad with the ball in the fourth quarter. We would throw it to them, let them rip the ball out of our hands. We let them back in it. The players can see the difference between when we take care of the ball and rebound versus when we don’t.” Iola’s junior varsity also won 42-21. Kolton Greathouse led with 10 points. Kyser Nemecek had seven. Ben Kerr had six. Lucas Maier had five. Jeremy Adair, Gavin Jones and Kaiden Rutherford had two. Iola is 4-13 and travels to Osawatomie on Tuesday. IOLA ( 14-10-18-8—50) Weide 4/2-2-0-8 Adams 3-1-1-7 Fager 1-0-1-2 Carson 53-1-1-14 Riley 2-0-3-4 Morrison 0-1-2-1 Boeken 6-2-3-`4 TOTALS: 14/5-7-13-50 ANDERSON COUNTY (8-3-15-22—48) Martin 0-1-0-1 Rockers 4/2-2-4-8 Belcher 5/2-0-3-12 Katzer 2-2-1-6 Jarett 4/1-2-1-13 Peine 4-0-3-8 TOTALS: 15/3-7-14-48
Iola High’s boys picked up their second win in a row the hard way Friday, in defeating Anderson County 50-48.
