Momentum can be a fickle beast, as Iola High’s Mustangs learned the hard way Thursday in a 62-51 loss to visiting Chanute.
Chanute had the hot hand early, racing to a 13-3 lead en route to a 37-21 halftime advantage.
But the Mustangs seized the momentum coming out of the break, outscoring the Blue Comets 16-2 in the period to make things interesting.
But that domination came at a cost.
“You see it over and over,” Iola head coach Luke Bycroft said. “Teams come from behind, and close the gap, but they can’t quite get over that last bump.”
Sure enough, Landon Carson’s bucket to open the fourth quarter tied the score at 39 apiece, just in time for Chanute to find its shooting touch again.
Blue Comet freshman Carter Coombs hit back-to-back 3-pointers, followed by a trey from Shan Williams, and suddenly Chanute was back up 49-41.
“They got a couple of easy buckets, and it kind of deflated us,” Bycroft said, “after it took so much energy to get there.”
Aside from the third quarter, there wasn’t much for Bycroft to smile about.
“We were just bad the whole first half,” he said. “We were defensively slow. We were slow to the ball. We didn’t challenge shooters very well, and didn’t rebound very well.”
Just as importantly, the Mustangs failed to attack Chanute’s extended zone defense, Bycroft lamented.
“We needed to attack, and we were just standing,” he said. “We were not wanting to move with the ball, or attack gaps. Once we did that in the third quarter, we just destroyed it, and got whatever we wanted.”
Coombs scored back-to-back buckets midway through the first quarter to put Chanute on top, 13-3.
Iola’s Dillon Bycroft helped ended the 10-0 Chanute run with a three-point play, then he converted on a floater from the lane and a jumper at the elbow to cut Iola’s deficit to 14-10.
But Coombs ended the quarter with a flourish, drilling back-to-back 3-pointers to put Chanute up 20-10.
Iola’s Tyler Boeken got into act, scoring at the first-quarter buzzer, then opening the second quarter with a basket. Bradyn Cole’s putback followed, and the Mustangs were back to a 20-16 deficit.
But as he did repeatedly, Coombs had the answer.
