WELLSVILLE — The Ponies boys basketball team continued its season on Saturday in a four-team tournament in Wellsville and finished the day with mixed results.
“Bittersweet,” Iola coach Scott Ellis said of each Iola teams’ 1-1 record.
The eighth-grade and seventh-grade squads each started their days with a tough matchup against host school Wellsville.
The seventh-grade Ponies fell 29-9 in the opener.
“Seventh grade started off well against Wellsville, but turned cold shooting,” Ellis said. “They had several missed opportunities.”
Karson Sigg led the team with five points and Cooper Riley added four points.
The eighth-grade team also struggled against the Eagles with a 40-30 loss.
“Wellsville played aggressive defense, which made our offense run not as soundly as we wanted.”
The Ponies were led by a balanced scoring attack with Isaac Badders, Bradyn Cole and Drake Sellman all scoring seven points.
Nathan Louk scored four points, Eli Smith had three and Jack Adams netted two.
The seventh graders bounced back in the consolation final with a 26-24 win over Anderson County.
Iola’s Tyler Boeken dominated the paint throughout the game with 12 points.
“(We) played more aggressively offensively and defensively,” Ellis said. “Boeken crashed the boards hard and made some key shots for us at the end of the game.”
Brett Willis, Ryker Curry and Sam Fager each added four points and Sigg scored two points.
“All the boys hustled and deserved the win,” Ellis said.
The eighth-grade Ponies also were able to win their consolation final with a 41-32 win over the Bulldogs.
Cole scored 15 points and hit a pair of threes to pace the Ponies.
Kole Rogers was also on fire from deep and hit a trio of triples while scoring 10.
“Bradyn and Kole stepped up in the second half by hitting big shots,” Ellis said. “Boys moved the ball around more which opened our run.”
Badders and Louk each also had four points and Henry Wicoff, Josh Kaufman, Sellman and Adams had two points.
Ponies earn tournament split
