Tigers steal a win

Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Fort Scott's Griffin Knopp (30) goes for a layup between Iola's Kent Toland (near left) and Michael Middleton during first-half action at the FSHS gymnasium Tuesday night. Knopp scored 11 points for the Tigers in a 58-37 victory. (Captured Images/Kenny Felt)

Fort Scott High School's nose for the ball was a major factor in the Tigers' 58-37 Southeast Kansas League victory over visiting Iola Tuesday night.

Fort Scott (4-1 SEK, 5-3 overall) recorded 16 steals in forcing 26 Iola turnovers. It also didn't hurt that the Tigers had four players reach double figures in scoring and shot 50 percent from the field as they made 22 of 44 field-goal attempts.

Gary Floyd finished with the game high of 14 points and also picked up five steals. Jake Clements knocked down three of four three-point attempts as he finished with 13 points and also dished out five assists. Griffin Knopp added 11 points while Alex Barner had 10 points and led with six steals.

"That's always good to see," Fort Scott head coach Jeff DeLaTorre said of the balanced scoring. "I think that's a sign that we're moving the ball around. We had some good passes and good cuts to the basket. And I think that's when we play our best is when we spread it around and you can't concentrate on one or two guys."

The Tigers had 13 assists as a team with seven players handing out at least one.

Iola (1-4, 1-5) took the opening tip in for a score for a 2-0 lead. It was the only lead of the game for the Mustangs as the Tigers scored 16 of the next 22.

Fort Scott held Iola without a field goal for the last five minutes of the first half and used a 17-2 run to boost the lead to 35-17 at the break.

At halftime, the Tigers had 13 steals while Iola had none. They had also made 15 of 27 shots from the field.

It looked as though maybe the fourth quarter would be played with a running clock after Knopp and Clements scored back-to-back to make during a 6-2 run to make it 42-19 with 4:08 left in the third.

But the Tigers let down for a while and the Mustangs scored 11 of the last 13 of the quarter to get within 44-30.

"We've got to find a way to be more consistent," DeLaTorre said. "The big word there is consistency. So fat this year, we've been good in spurts. And then we've had our down moments. We want to get to where we're playing at the same level every game and all throughout the game."

The Tigers came out focused on both sides of the ball to start the fourth quarter. They scored the first nine points of the period and held the Mustangs to one field goal on 11 shots in the period.

After Clements hit a trey to make it 56-32 with 2:55 to go, junior varsity players came into the game and carried on. Iola scored only five free throws in the JV players.

Cory Schenkel grabbed a team-high seven rebounds for the Tigers off the bench.

Trent Jacobs was the only Iola player to reach double figures, scoring 10 points.

Friday night, the Tigers head to Girard for what it anticipated to be a highly-competitive contest. Last year, Fort Scott took a 49-46 victory at the wire.

IOLA: Ke.Luttell 0-3 0-0 0, Latta 0-0 0-0 0, Pulley 0-0 2-2 2, Ki.Luttrell 1-2 0-0 2, Rourk 1-6 0-0 2, Toland 2-3 0-0 5, Jacobs 3-7 4-9 10, Walden 2-6 1-2 5, Cook 2-4 0-0 4, Middleton 1-1 0-2 2, Peterson 0-2 4-8 4, Snavely 0-1 1-2 1. TOTALS: 12-35 12-25 37.

FORT SCOTT: Quick 0-2 0-0 0, Boyd 0-1 0-0 0, King 1-2 0-0 2, Thorpe 0-0 0-0 0, Floyd 5-11 4-6 14, Clements 4-6 2-2 13, Knopp 5-8 1-4 11, Norris 2-3 0-2 4, Schenkel 1-4 2-2 4, Barner 4-7 1-2 10, Fancher 0-0 0-0 0, Hull 0-0 0-0 0, Harper 0-0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 22-44 10-18 58.

Iola..................... 10 7 13 7 -- 37

Fort Scott............ 16 19 9 14 -- 58

Three-point field goals: Iola 1-4 (Toland 1-1, Ke.Luttrell 0-1, Walden 0-1, Cook 0-1), Fort Scott 4-13 (Clements 3-4, Barner 1-2, Quick 0-1, King 0-1, Schenkel 0-2, Floyd 0-3).

Total fouls: Iola 17, Fort Scott 22. Fouled out: Norris. Technical fouls: none.

Rebounds: Iola 34 (Jacobs 10), Fort Scott 21 (Schenkel 7). Assists: Iola 5 (Toland, Walden 2 each), Fort Scott 13 (Clements 5) Turnovers: Iola 26, Fort Scott 15. Steals: Iola 1 (Walden), Fort Scott 16 (Barner 6). Blocked shots: Iola 2 (Walden, Middleton), Fort Scott 4 (Fancher 2).


JUNIOR VARSITY -- Logan Fancher's 16 points led the Tigers in a 59-43 win over Iola. Josh Hawkins added 11 while Knopp and Jeremy Hull each scored 10.


FRESHMEN -- The freshmen results were not provided by press time.