Iola picked a bad night to not be able to find a rhythm, as they fell in substate action 50-36 to Anderson County.
“We didn’t run offense all night,” Iola coach Jay Applegate said. “We were hesitate. We might have been a little scared and timid of the situation because it is a one and done thing. I mean we were never in the game… We were never into it mentally.”
Iola jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the very early going by doing what has gotten them success all season. They fed sophomore Ethan Holloway.
“We quit going to (Holloway,)” Applegate said. “We quit running offense.”
The Bulldogs roared back at the Mustangs though and ended the first quarter with a 14-8 lead.
That lead only grew in the second quarter as Anderson County outscored Iola 14-9 in the period to take a 28-17 advantage into the halftime break.
Mustang junior Isaiah Fawson opened the scoring in the third quarter with a three-pointer and it appeared like the Mustangs may have a run left in them. Unfortunately for them, thought the Bulldogs had an answer for every bucket Iola made.
The third quarter ended with Iola still trailing by nine points.
The Mustangs grabbed momentum as the fourth quarter began though.
Holloway opened the quarter’s scoring with a pair of foul shots and fellow sophomore big man Evan Sigg followed that up with a basket of his own. Just like that the Bulldog lead was cut to 37-32 with nearly an entire quarter left to play.
Anderson County had an answer though and junior forward Nick Levy quickly got the lead back to nine with a pair of quick baskets. The Bulldogs didn’t stop there, however, and in total they reeled off an 11-point run to put the game out of reach.
“We didn’t pass the ball well,” Applegate said. “We had passes sail out of bounds over our heads and made some no-look passes that were terrible passes. Our heads just weren’t in it.”
During the game clinching run, Levy had seven points and Chase Ratliff had the other four.
The game marked the final high school basketball game for Mustang senior Brett Taylor.
“He’s a good kid,” Applegate said. “He’s the type of kid, you might want your daughter to marry.”
