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Fort Scott boys prevail in home opener
FORT SCOTT, Kan. -- Fort Scott High's basketball team was sailing smoothly at halftime of its game against Labette County at the FSHS gymnasium Friday night. They were shooting well, defending well and running up and down.
But they were also playing their fifth game in eight nights -- "NBA teams don't play that many games in a week," Tiger head coach Jeff DeLaTorre said -- and it may have showed in the third quarter when the game turned a 180 and everything started going the way of visiting Labette County.
But Fort Scott fought through it and turned things back around in the fourth quarter, scoring 13 unanswered points to take control and prevail, 60-50, in Southeast Kansas League play.
The Tigers (2-0 SEK, 3-2 overall) led 34-25 at halftime as they were shooting well from the outside and playing good defense. They were also able to overcome the size mismatch Labette County center Brannon Green, 6' 4" and built like a tight end -- which he is for the Grizzly football team.
But in the third, Labette County (1-1, 1-1) managed to turn things around and when Keaton Turner hit a 3-point shot from the left wing with 5 seconds remaining, found themselves with their first lead of the night, 40-39, going into the final stanza.
Fort Scott made just two of nine field goal attempts in the period while Labette County connected on seven of nine. Even more incredible, the Grizzlies outrebounded the Tigers in the period 11-0.
But, as it turned out, this would be the Grizzlies' only lead of the night. Gary Floyd started off the fourth quarter for the Tigers with six straight points: Two free throws, going coast-to-coast with a defensive rebound -- the Tigers first of the half -- and taking a steal in for a layup.
Green made two free throws for LCHS and Christian Hosey took a steal in to bring the Grizzlies within 45-44 with 5 minutes to go. Labette County wouldn't score again for more than 4 minutes.
"I was convinced at times we were going to run out of gas," DeLaTorre said. "But we found that extra energy. We called a couple of time-outs to give them a little extra break. They were able to find something inside that allowed us to turn the corner in the fourth quarter."
Freshman Johnathan Stark scored four straight points to give the Tigers a spark. It started with a steal which turned into a give-and-go with Floyd for a layup and continued with a jump shot moments later.
Floyd drove in for two with 2:29 to go to make it 51-44, then added a pair of free throws a minute later. Griffin Knopp converted a 3-point play with 1:05 to go and then Floyd capped the run with two free throws with 51 seconds left to make it 58-44.
"We have to be the type of team that hustles and plays hard for 32 minutes," DeLaTorre said. "Tonight, we may not have executed for 32 minutes like we wanted, but we played hard for 32 minutes and that's what we want."
Floyd's layup gave Fort Scott a 16-14 lead at the end of the first period. After Green tied it on a stickback to start the second, the Tigers went on a 18-5 run that made it 34-21 with 1:11 to go before LCHS scored the last four points of the half.
Floyd finished with 25 points, seven assists and eight steals for the Tigers as he made eight of 16 field goal attempts and all eight of his free-throw tries. Knopp added 13 points as he was 5-for-8 from the field. Stark finished with right points.
Green scored 25 points for LCHS on 11-of-18 field-goal shooting and also had 12 rebounds. But no other Grizzly had more than nine points and only five others scored.
The Tigers shot 47 percent from the field overall on 21 of 45. Take out the third quarter and they shot 56 percent on 19 of 34. LCHS shot 48 percent on the evening on 21 of 44.
Labette County outrebounded Fort Scott, 31-20, but also committed more turnovers, 22-13. The Tigers had 18 steals to just five for the Grizzlies.
In junior varsity action, Stark scored 19 points and Cameron Woodring added 10 in a 50-49 loss to LCHS.
The Tigers return to action Tuesday at Independence for another Southeast Kansas League contest.