INSIDE
The Iola Register
Marmaton Valley girls earn win— B2
Saturday, February 20, 2016
Iola’s Andrew Garber, blue, wrestles Chanute’s Dalton Lamb. REGISTER/JON DYKSTRA
Iola’s Tavon Blazek, blue, wrestles Burlington’s Tyson Breshears. REGISTER/JON DYKSTRA
Iola’s Tavon Blazek, blue, attempts to get control of Burlington’s Tyson Breshears during Friday’s class 4A semifinal in Columbus. Blazek won the match 10-5 and earned a trip to the state tournament. REGISTER/JON DYKSTRA
Iola’s Colton Toney, blue, wrestles Burlington’s T.J. Lang. REGISTER/JON DYKSTRA
Iola’s Chandler House, blue, wrestles Burlington’s Seth Pollett. REGISTER/JON DYKSTRA
TICKETS PUNCHED
Garber, Blazek earn state bids at regionals COLUMBUS — Iola High’s Tavon Blazek entered Friday’s 4A Regional wrestling tournament with plenty of motivation. Not only was the junior trying to earn his way to Kansas high school wrestling’s final weekend for the first time in his career, but he was wrestling in memory of his grandfather. “My grandpa was always beside me basically holding my hand,” Blazek said. “He supported me the most because my
dad was never there. He would always help me through my sports with football, basketball. That’s my father, my true father. Without him, I don’t know where I’d be at.” The 182-pounder lost his grandfather just a couple weeks before this tournament and it was safe to say that he was on Blazek’s mind throughout the event. “Going into the (semifinal) match, I wasn’t 100 percent sure I was going to win and dominate, because my head wasn’t in
the match,” Blazek said. Blazek used his emotion as fuel and pushed the pace whenever he had the chance. His first two matches against Paola’s Jeff Schartz and Coffeyville-Field Kindley’s Ryan Tracy ended with pins. “The last two weeks, I haven’t really felt like wrestling, but the thing that kept me motivated was my teammates, my coaches and my training partner,” Blazek
See WRESTLING | Page B4
MV boys down Blu-Jays By RICHARD LUKEN The Associated Press
MORAN — Marmaton Valley High’s boys, especially senior Brady Newman, saved their best for last. The Wildcats put forth what their head coach called their best defensive effort of the season in their home finale Friday. And Newman, who was crowned 2016 Sweetheart King in a pregame ceremony, poured in 19 points as the
Wildcats knocked off visiting Pleasanton, 35-30. “To give up only 30 points to a quality team like that, it was real impressive,” Wildcat head coach Dan Uhlrich said. He noted this same Pleasanton squad twice eclipsed the 50-point mark in previous wins over the Wildcats. “This was the best defensive effort I’ve seen us play all year,” he said. “Every loose ball, everything, we were getting after it. We were into the game from the start.”
The Wildcats limited Pleasanton to only 13 points in the first half, and opened the third quarter with a quick 6-0 run to lead 22-13. Alas, some Wildcat impatience fed an 8-0 Pleasanton run to trim Marmaton Valley’s advantage to one, 22-21. “We’ve got to be more patient,” Uhlrich said, pointing to a series of wild layup attempts from sophomore Justice Pugh. (All three led See MV | Page B10
IMS 7th A-team wins FORT SCOTT — The Iola Middle School seventh-grade A-team used a big second quarter to push pass Fort Scott 37-24 Thursday. “Probably our best overall game from top to bottom,” Iola coach Marty Taylor said. After ending the first trailing 9-6, the Ponies outscored Fort Scott 14-3 in the second to take an eight-point lead into the break. Iola kept its momentum rolling into the second half and outscored Fort Scott 10-4 in the third quarter to put the game out of reach. Kole Rodgers led the Iola attack with 12 points. Isaac
Shockers extend MVC lead to two
Badders ended the game one basket shy of a doubledouble. He had 8 points and 13 rebounds. Dylan Bycroft and Jack Adams each scored six. “Everybody played well and chipped in,” Taylor said. Eli Smith and Henry Wicoff rounded out the scoring with three and two points respectively. THE SEVENTH-GRADE
B-squad fell three points short against Fort Scott, losing 22-19. See IMS | Page B4
Brady Newman goes up for a shot over the Pleasanton defense in Friday’s 35-30 win. Newman had 19 points. REGISTER/RICHARD LUKEN
Wichita State’s Zach Brown dunks on Missouri State at Koch Arena on Thursday. Fer-
nando Salazar/Wichita Eagle/TNS
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Zach Brown scored 16 points and Wichita State routed Missouri State, 99-68 on Thursday night to push its lead in the Missouri Valley Conference to two games over Illinois State. The Shockers raced to a 5127 lead at intermission and went 10 players deep into their bench before the dust settled. A dozen players figured in the scoring for Wichita State. The Bears tied the game at 8-8 on Obediah Church’s jumper four minutes into the con-
test, Wichita State kicked into another gear, taking a 10-point lead with nine minutes left in the half and doubling the advantage with five minutes left. Fred VanVleet and Ron Baker each had 15 points for Wichita State (20-7, 13-2). The Shockers were 39 of 66 from the field (59.1 percent) and collected 13 steals. Church had 14 points and Dequon Miller added another 12 for Missouri State (11-16, 7-8).