Tigers turn things around in third period

PAOLA -- After three quarters of play here Tuesday night, Fort Scott's tandem of Zach Quick and Zach Smith had scored a combined total of two points and made one of 13 field-goal attempts between them.

Yet the Tigers had just rallied from a 12-point halftime deficit with get within two of host Paola.

With contributions from other sources, Fort Scott High went on to complete the comeback and take a 48-44 victory over the Panthers in the final non-league game of the season.

"It was a tough first half," Fort Scott head coach Jeff DeLaTorre said of a period of time in which the Tigers scored just 11 points and shot 4 of 22 from the field with the Quick-Smith duo going 0 for 11. "You have to give credit to Paola. They went to a zone and we weren't knocking our shots down. And on their end, they were going inside and we had a hard time guarding (Corey) Walker early in the game.

"But I'm proud of that, after playing about as badly as we could play in the first half, to hang in there -- and things didn't start out well in the beginning of the third -- and then we hit a couple of shots. We showed a lot of heart and composure."

Normally, playing a zone against the Tigers, 8-4, means a quick death via the three-pointer. But with Fort Scott not able to connect and Paola's inside tandem of Walker and Reggie Smith working well, the Panthers held a 10-5 lead after one period.

"We had tough matchups inside, which we knew going in," DeLaTorre said. "In the first half, we didn't do as good of a job as we need to in helping down in the post. We knew (we) were going to have a hard time guarding one-on-one. In the second half, we doubled more and made them get rid of the ball."

Tony Karleskint and Kevin Gray scored back to back to bring the Tigers back within 12-9 with six minutes left in the second. But the Panthers, 4-7, went on a 9-2 run to end the half, holding Fort Scott to just a pair of free throws.

Paola was 10 of 15 from the field at the half as Walker and Smith combined for 14 points. The Panthers also scored six of the first eight of the second half to make it 29-13 with 4:20 to go in the period.

Zach Smith hit a three-point goal for Fort Scott with four minutes remaining -- his only field goal on the night -- and that seemed to spark the Tigers. Gray followed with a jumper and Chris Banks knocked in a three-point goal off the right wing as the redclads went on a run of their own.

Gray took a steal in for a layup, drew a foul and converted the three-point play to cut the deficit to 29-24. Gray then took a pass from Banks and hit a baseline jumper.

"Gray hit some big shots and this game kind of mirrored last year's game (a 43-40 win at Fort Scott)," DeLaTorre noted. "Smith and Quick struggled last year against Paola and some other guys stepped up and hit shots and that's what happened tonight."

Walker made one of two free throws with 28 seconds to go to post Paola's only points in the last four minutes of the third. Karleskint took a pass from Banks and hit a jumper with 12 seconds to go to bring Fort Scott within 30-28 as the final stanza began.

After the teams traded scores to start the fourth, Karleskint scored a layup and then Quick followed with his first basket of the night, converting a Banks steal into an "old-fashioned" three-point play to put the Tigers in front, 36-34, for the first time since it was 3-0.

Paola's Smith tied it for the last time with two free throws with 3:11 to go. Banks drove for a layup with 2:24 left, then Quick hit two free throws with 1:42 to go, making it a four-point lead at 42-38.

The Panthers didn't want Fort Scott to run too much time off the clock and began fouling. But the Tigers hit six of eight free throws in the final 1:08 while Paola only got a layup from Jeremy Dillard.

It helped during the comeback that Paola isn't a team that wants to run. The Panthers had to count on the Tigers missing free throws because they don't have the ability to get points quickly.

"I think the big turning point was when we finally got some production out of our press," DeLaTorre said. "We pressed in the first half but we didn't get a lot of layups. In the second half, we cranked it up and got some transition points off of that."

Gray finished with 15 points for the Tigers as he went five of eight from the field. Karleskint was six of eight inside as he added 14 points.

Walker finished with 15 points for Paola while Smith scored 14.

Fort Scott made 12 of 19 field-goal attempts in the second half to finish at 39 percent for the evening on 16 of 41. Paola was 17 of 35 overall for 49 percent.

Rebounds were even at 24-24. Karleskint had six boards for the Tigers.

JUNIOR VARSITY -- Paola won the JV contest, 35-28. Alex Barner and Paul Norris each had six points for Fort Scott.

League play begins Friday when Pittsburg comes to the FSHS gymnasium. The Tigers won the non-league contest on Dec. 15 by a 58-39 score.