Mustangs come up short against Chargers

BURLINGTON — A key sequence of plays fell against Iola High’s boys late, but it was their play early on that left head coach Bill Peeper steamed.
The Mustangs could not hold a three-point lead late against Santa Fe Trail, thanks to a pair of key Charger 3-pointers and a costly out-of-bounds call that negated an Iola bucket in the final minute.
Santa Fe Trail, which is joining the Pioneer League in the 2014-15 academic year, dispatched Iola, 62-59, in the consolation semifinals of the Burlington Midseason Tournament. The loss drops Iola (5-6) to the seventh-place game this afternoon against Rossville, which fell, 64-55, to Christian Prep in other tournament action. Tipoff is at 1:35 p.m. in the Burlington Middle School gymnasium.
“It’s frustrating to see us play with the lack of intensity and lack of enthusiasm, and a general lack of desire,” Peeper said. “We didn’t compete very hard, except for a stretch in the third and fourth quarters.”
Iola trailed by 11 early in the second half before the Mustangs picked up their intensity a notch.
Trent Latta’s basket off a Tyler Powelson assist with 3:30 left in the game gave Iola a 50-49 lead, its first advantage since midway through the first quarter. Tyler McIntosh’s free throws with 2 1/2 minutes left put Iola up, 54-51.
Santa Fe Trail’s Collin Watkins and Cody Vanderford sandwiched 3-pointers around a pair of Mustang free throws by Kaden Macha to put the Chargers on top 57-56.
Tyler McIntosh hit 1 of 2 free throws for Iola to tie the score before Tyler Mundy scored on a driving layup to push Santa Fe Trail on top. He missed a subsequent free throw, but Vanderford snatched the key offensive rebound, forcing Iola to foul. Weston Gloss hit 1 of 2 free throws to put the Chargers up by three with 47 seconds left.
Disaster struck on Iola’s next possession. Latta’s dribble bounced off his foot as he drove to the basket. The ball bounced into the waiting arms of teammate Fryendz Wallace, who drove along the baseline for an apparent layup.
But he was called for stepping out of bounds, negating the basket with 23 seconds left.
Gloss hit two more free throws — his 24th and 25th points of the game — to put the lead out of reach.
The Chargers did “pretty much whatever they wanted” on offense in the first half, Peeper said.
Gloss scored 14 before intermission as Santa Fe Trail led 17-12 after one period and 37-29 at halftime.
Gloss’ 3-pointer early in the third quarter pushed the lead to 11, 42-31.
Latta scored 20 to pace Iola, to go with three steals and four assists. McIntosh followed with nine points, five rebounds and two assists. Adam Kauth and Jesse Zimmerman scored seven each. Macha had six points and eight rebounds. Powelson had six rebounds. Kauth and Powelson also had two steals each.
“It was good to see Jesse hit those shots for us, and Trent did a nice job of being aggressive,” Peeper said.
Chase Logan added 14 for Santa Fe Trail.
SF Trail (17-20-9-16—62)
Iola (12-17-12-18—59)
SF Trail (FG/3pt-FT-F-TP): Watkins 0/1-0-1-3, Gloss 6/2-6-1-24, Stout 1-1-3-3, Wechsler 0/1-0-5-3, Mundy 4-1-1-9, Wanderford 0/2-0-4-6, Logan 4/1-1-1-14. TOTALS; 16/7-9-16-62.
Iola (FG/3pt-FT-F-TP): Latta 8/1-1-4-20, Wallace 2-1-1-5, McIntosh 3-3-3-9, Zimmerman 2/1-0-2-7, Macha 2-2-2-6, Kauth 2-3-1-7, Powelson 2-1-3-5. TOTALS: 21/2-11-16-59.