GARNETT — Eric Tastove is listed at 6-3 on Anderson County High’s roster.
It only seemed like he was 10 feet tall at times against the Iola High defense.
Tastove scored early and often as the host Bulldogs raced out of the gates, opening the contest with a 24-4 run.
Iola picked up its play from there, but the early deficit was too much to overcome in a 77-56 defeat, Iola’s seventh in a row.
Now the Mustangs, 7-12 overall, await today’s seedings for the Class 4A Substate Tournament next week. The Mustangs still have one regular season game, Thursday at Osawatomie, but that contest will not count toward postseason seedings.
Despite the loss, Mustang coach Bill Peeper saw some glimmers of optimism.
He “changed things around” after halftime, switching lineup combinations while deploying a full-court press.
“They were able to score off of it, but it seemed to give us a spark,” Peeper said. “If using a full-court press all the time is what it takes to get us going, we might as well try it.”
Iola also received a number of big plays from its reserves. Cole Morrison came off the bench to hit a pair of 3-pointers. Tyler Clubine also connected once from downtown in his five-point, two-steal effort, while Kaden Macha had two blocks and a pair of assists.
Heck, take away the first quarter, and Iola went stride-for-stride against Anderson County’s powerful inside-outside attack spearheaded by Tastove and Spencer Walter.
Problem was, after all the Mustangs’ improved play — they scored 23 points alone in the third quarter — Iola still trailed by 17.
“Playing when you’re down 20 isn’t much fun,” Peeper lamented.
Anderson County led 24-6 after one quarter before Iola’s offense began to click. Seven Mustangs scored in the second quarter alone as the Bulldog advantage ranged from 18 to 23 points before settling at 42-22 at intermission.
Mason Coons hit a pair of early 3-pointers in the second half, and Macha’s bucket with 5:20 cut the gap to 48-31. Then Levi Ashmore scored five points over a 47-second span to keep Iola within 53-36.
But Tastove responded with a three-point play — part of his 31 points on the night — as the lead grew back to 20.
Clubine’s five points were sandwiched around a pair of Coons free throws, and Tyler Powelson’s putback as time expired in the third cut the deficit to 62-45. Morrison connected from 3-point range early in the fourth quarter to close the gap to 64-48.
“I was proud of how the guys never quit,” Peeper said. “With a game like that, it’s easy to give up, and suddenly that 20-point lead is a 40-point lead. That didn’t happen.
“But it goes back to the little things,” he continued. “As long as you have trouble valuing possession of the ball, and you miss as many ‘gimmes’ as we did, then you’re going to struggle. But maybe we found something to reverse our negative momentum.”
Coons led the way with 12 points, five rebounds and two steals, while Tyler McIntosh delivered 11 points and four assists. Powelson and Adam Kauth added seven and five rebounds, respectively. Each also had two assists. Ashmore had two steals as well.
Walter added 14, while Steve Dial scored 11 for Anderson County.
The Mustang junior varsity dropped a 67-37 decision. Fryendz Wallace led the Mustang JV with nine points, followed by Macha and Adam Peterson with seven apiece and Bryan Mueller with six. Kohl Endicott, Matt Jacobs and Shane Walden each scored two.
The Mustang C team fell 38-26. Matt Jacobs scored seven for Iola.
Iola: (FG/3pt-FT-F-TP): Latta 1-1-2-3, Ashmore 1/1-1-2-6, Coons 1/2-4-1-12, Mueller 1-0-0-2, Morrison 0/2-0-2-6, McIntosh 5-1-4-11, Zimmerman 1-0-1-2, Clubine 0/1-2-1-5, Macha 1-0-1-2, Kauth 0-2-3-2, Powelson 1-1-2-3, Grover 1-0-1-2. TOTALS: 13/6-12-20-56.
Anderson Co. (FG/3pt-FT-F-TP): Gilbreath 0-0-1-0, Dial 4-3-0-11, Lickteig 3-0-3-6, Mechnig 1/1-1-2-6, Hillard 1/1-2-3-7, Woodard 1-0-2-2, Rickabaugh 0-0-4-0, Small 0-0-1-0, Tastove 11/1-6-1-31, Walter 1/3-3-2-31, Carter 0-0-1-0, Comfort 0-0-1-0. TOTALS: 22/6-15-20-77.
Bulldogs bite IHS
