BURLINGTON — The Burlington Wildcats evened the Iola’s Pioneer League record to 1-1 after crushing the Mustangs 67-33 Tuesday night.
The Wildcats’ stout defense and another night of lackluster shooting kept every Iola player to single digits in scoring as the Mustangs fell for the second consecutive night.
“These guys have to take the initiative. They have to run what we want to run and be more aggressive,” Iola coach Luke Bycroft said. “We have to have more than one guy. Austin Crooks was out with a foot injury. I tried to run him in and out, but he wasn’t himself. Someone has to step up.”
As Iola struggled to score, Burlington rained down seven 3-pointers before the end of the first half.
Bycroft said the Wildcats’ stroke behind the arc, however, is not what separated the teams.
“They always shoot like that, but they shoot like that more when we don’t keep the ball from getting in the lane,” Bycroft said.
“They got their open threes by driving it and getting to the lane, through the lane and to the backside. They do what they do well, and all of them can shoot.”
Senior guard Brennan Coffield finished with a team-leading 7 points, followed by sophomore forwards Mosiah Fawson and Reed Clift and junior guard Keegan Hill with 6 points each.
Senior guard Nick Bauer had four points, with junior guard Roy Gordon and sophomore guard Colton Thompson scoring a bucket each. Coffield and Fawson had two assists each.
Defensively, Fawson, Hill and Thompson tied in steals with two each.
Fawson and Clift tied in blocks with two each.
Bycroft said the offense experienced a bit of an uptick in the second half, but a multitude of issues exacerbated by lack of rest and injuries overshadowed Iola’s successes.
“Some of that could be due to dead legs. We’ve played five games in the last eight days,” Bycroft said. “We’re not very deep to begin with. We’ve been sharing a lot of minutes with 10 or 12 guys. We only had eight guys the other night.”
With the loss, the Mustangs evened their overall record to 3-3 but hope to get above .500 overall in the Pioneer League when they face the Prairie View Buffalos Thursday. With losses to Santa Fe Trail and Osawatomie, the Buffalos are also hoping to improve their record.
“I feel good about our chances up there and ending this first semester on a good note. If we clean some stuff up at practice Wednesday, we’ll have a chance,” Bycroft said.
Tip-off will follow the 6 p.m. girls basketball game.
