A storybook ending turned into heartbreak Tuesday.
Iola High’s Mustangs capped a ferocious comeback, erasing a 16-point deficit to Santa Fe Trail, with senior Mac Leonard delivering three free throws to knot the score at 61-61 with 7 seconds left on the clock.
But a lot can happen in 7 seconds.
Santa Fe Trail’s Luke Edwards took the ball the length of the court before dishing it off to teammate Jalen Smith — just beyond the grasp of Iola’s Nick Bauer — as Smith took the ball and laid in the backside lay-up as time expired, giving the Chargers a dramatic 63-61 win.
“We were so close to getting to that last ball,” lamented Mustang head coach Luke Bycroft. “Nick was crashing that hard, which was what we were trying to do.”
The whirlwind of emotions left Bycroft with a feeling of pride, hopeful his Mustang squad learned a painful lesson.
“I’m proud of them for getting back into it,” he said. “But we shouldn’t have had to get back into it. We should be playing with that intensity when it’s 0-0. We shouldn’t have to wait until we’re down 10, 15 points.”
The Chargers led from the start, taking the early advantage with its dribble-drive offense, then dishing off to Smith for easy lay-ins or open looks from 3-point range.
“That’s the angriest I’ve been at halftime in a long time,” Bycroft said.
His message: “If you don’t play defense, you get to come sit by me.”
Iola approached the third quarter with a bit more pep in its step.
The Mustangs trailed 37-23 early in the second half before the Mustangs’ Lucas Maier scored six of Iola’s next eight points. Landon Weide’s layup capped a 10-4 Iola run to close the gap to 41-33.
But back-to-back 3-pointers from Edwards and Smith, followed by Edwards’ steal and layup suddenly gave the Chargers their biggest lead of the game, 49-33.
Iola didn’t go down without a fight.
Weide and Cortland Carson combined to score 14 of Iola’s next 16 points, Carson’s 3-pointer with 3½ minutes left sliced the deficit to 53-47.
A Charger turnover led to another Weide jumper to cut Iola’s deficit to four.
