WELLSVILLE — Iola Middle School’s eighth-grade boys picked up a pair of wins Saturday to win the Wellsville Invitational Tournament.
The Ponies eked out a 23-22 win over host Wellsville in their first game, then rolled to a 36-13 romp over Anderson County in the championship.
On the seventh-grade side, Iola fell to Wellsville, 33-26, before rebounding to defeat Baldwin, 21-17, in the third-place game.
The Iola squads resume play this afternoon at Independence before hosting Royster at 3:30 p.m. Thursday.
Iola’s eighth-graders were in a battle from start to finish against Wellsville. Iola led 9-8 after one period before the Eagles tied the score at 12-12 at halftime. The Ponies went back on top 19-18 after three.
Ethan Holloway led the way with nine points and 10 rebounds. Matt Komma added seven points and four rebounds. Isaac Vink scored three, while Nick Vaughn and Evan Sigg had two each.
“We started out slowly against Wellsville, and really didn’t get it going until the last couple of minutes,” IMS head coach Marty Taylor said. “But we were very good when we needed to be.”
Iola had no such troubles against the Bulldogs. The Ponies led 12-1 after one quarter and 22-7 at halftime. The Ponies outscored Anderson County 7-0 in the third.
Holloway had 10 points and 11 rebounds. Vink followed with eight. Sigg and Komma both had four points and four rebounds. Drake Sell also scored four. Vaughn, Caden Knavel and Zach Cokely added three, two and one point, respectively.
Wellsville’s seventh-grade ended the game with Iola on a 13-3 run to take the win. Tayton Driskel led Iola with 14 points and 16 rebounds. Kane Rogers followed with nine points and seven boards. Blake Ashmore scored two and Derek Bycroft one.
Iola overcame a 4-3 deficit against Baldwin with an 8-6 run in the second. The lead stood at 15-13 after three quarters.
“The boys played hard all day,” Taylor said. “We missed a ton of shots late against Wellsville that came back to bite us, but overall we improved. Against Baldwin, we had to scratch and claw against a much bigger team, but the kids did a good job of staying focused and finishing.”
Ashmore scored 12 points, while Rogers had four points and four rebounds. Bycroft had two points and six boards. Cole Regehr also had two points. Driskel pulled in 11 rebounds, while Nic Zimmerman had four rebounds and one point.
