BURLINGTON — It was inevitable the Mustangs were going to win Tuesday night. Unfortunately, it was Rock Creek’s Mustangs that came away winners and not Iola High’s. Rock Creek 67, Iola 37
Rock Creek shot its way to a 67-37 win.
“I’d like to say we gave it our all and outworked them, such as for loose balls, but it’s not the case. We’re still losing every 50-50 ball,” coach Bill Peeper said. “Every loose ball that’s on the floor, or tip or rebound that’s up in the air, we’re not getting them. Whether it’s the willingness or the heart, or some combination of both, we’re trying to figure it out. Whether we are as good of a team as (Rock Creek) is irrelevant if we don’t give it our best effort.”
Iola struggled to stay in the game halfway through the first quarter. After starting in a 4-0 hole, Iola’s Ben Cooper came through with a 3-pointer with 6:30 left in the first.
After a quick Rock Creek bucket, Kaden Macha scorched the back of the net with a deep jumper. Iola’s Mustangs took a 7-6 lead with 5:10 left in the first quarter on a putback basket by Shane Walden.
That’s when Rock Creek decided to ditch their horses for Ford Mustangs. They shifted the clutch into high gear and went on a 17-0 drive. Iola’s Travis Hermstein ended the scoring drought with a 3-pointer as time expired in the first quarter. Iola’s Mustangs trailed Rock Creek 23-10.
Iola hung around in the second quarter and was outscored 16-12. Iola scored its first seven points from the free throw line. Macha ended that with a jumper in the lane with 2:15 left in the half. Kohl Endicott scored Iola’s last points of the half on a 3-pointer. Rock Creek was ahead 39-22 at halftime.
Tough defense and a large scoring output allowed Rock Creek to take over in the second half. Rock Creek outscored Iola 30-10 in the second half — Iola scored only one point in the fourth quarter.
Rock Creek had five scorers with more than seven points. Macha led Iola with nine points — the only player with more than seven on Iola. Nate Berard led Rock Creek with 15 points. He scored 11 points in the third quarter.
“We’re not getting our fair share of loose balls. We’re not getting our fair share of rebounds.” Peeper said. “As a result, we’re not getting as many opportunities in games because we let other people do whatever they want to do.”
Iola (3-7) is moved into the consolation bracket and takes on Rossville at 8:15 p.m. on Friday.
Rock Creek (23-16-21-7—67) (FG/3pt-FT-F-TP): Berard 6-3-2-15, Goodmiller 2-5-2-8, Feldkamp 3-0-2-6, Rogge 0/2-0-6, Nider 2-1-2-5, Ebert 0-0-2-0, Fox 1-2-2-4, Becker 3-1-4-7, Buss 0-3-1-3, Garcia 5-2-2-12
Iola (10-12-9-1—32) (FG/3pt-FT-F-TP): Cooper 1/1-1-4-6, Fawson 0-0-1-0, Regehr 0-0-2-0, Endicott 0/1-0-1-3, Taylor 1-0-2-1, Aiello 0-0-1-0, Hermstein 0/1-0-0-3, Walden 1-0-2-2, Bauer 0-1-3-1, Macha 2-5-4-9, Peterson 2-2-5-6
Two Mustangs, two different results
