On a team often led statistically by its underclassmen, such as sophomore Ethan Holloway, it was Iola’s veterans who came up with the biggest plays in Friday’s gutty 47-45 win over Anderson County.
“The boys played hard tonight,” Iola coach Jay Applegate said. “They had a spark in their eye.”
Iola built a big lead early but in the second half Anderson County — a team that had beaten the Mustangs twice already this season — roared back to take a one-point lead with 37 seconds left, when Applegate signaled for a timeout.
The huddle was not a complicated one. Applegate called one of his go-to plays and set it up for the ball to be in his junior point guard Ben Cooper’s hands.
“We have a couple different options off of that,” Applegate said. “We can get it inside, take a three-pointer or dribble-drive jump shot.”
Coming out of the timeout, Iola allowed the clock to tick down before Cooper went to work.
The junior came from the right wing down the right-side of the lane.
As he entered the lane it was decision time. Cooper could either take the ball all the way to the basket himself, he could dump it to a teammate in hopes of an open look or he could pull up right before he got into the teeth of the defense for a shot.
Cooper elected for option number three. He pulled up for a push-shot in the middle of the lane and flicked the ball over the waiting Bulldog defenders.
“He’s clutch,” Holloway said of his teammate.
The ball arched towards the cylinder, and made contact with the from of the rim.
As the ball rolled over the front iron and dropped through the net with 7 seconds left, the Iola crowd caught its breath and roared its approval for what appeared to be the winning play.
Anderson County did not hesitate, however.
The Bulldogs quickly inbounded the ball to their speedy guard D’anthony Fredricks and he raced upcourt.
As the senior Bulldog guard rose up for a potential game-winning layup, he made contact with Brett Taylor.
The only senior on Iola’s team had hustled back on defense and set up to accept the charge just in the nick of time and sealed Iola’s win.
