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 Fort Scott's Robert Hatcher (11) looks to pass on the fast break during the first half of action Saturday at Arnold Arena. Hatcher scored 5 points and had 3 assists but the Greyhounds lost to visiting Allen County, 70-54. (FSCC photo/Drew Johnson) [Click to enlarge] |
Saturday's 70-54 loss to Allen County at Arnold Arena was the Greyhounds' 24th game of the season. Last year in high school, this year's freshmen would be at the end of the season if their teams made their state's playoffs. In college, that means there are still six games to go before the playoffs.
Saturday night, the freshmen might have begun to feel it a little bit. And the only sophomore, Ramell Taylor, who is the fifth-leading scorer in the Jayhawk Conference, needs their help.
"That is taking a toll on us right now," Fort Scott head coach Michael Cook said of the need to have other scorers to complement Taylor. "(Taylor) can't get all the points for us every night. Even if he does, we have to have somebody take the pressure off him. We're asking role players to be main players. We thought Alex (Barner) was going to be a good role player coming in after football season. But now we're asking him to score 10, 12, maybe 14 points a game. We need, actually, three scorers, the way we're playing right now."
One thing freshmen have to learn in juco ball is that there isn't really a night off. They were ready for Coffeyville Wednesday night and fell by only one point, 67-66, to the Eastern Division leaders. But they couldn't maintain the same intensity all the way through Saturday's game, getting outscored 49-31 in the second half on their way to their 17th consecutive loss.
"When you're young, you don't think about consistency," Cook said. "I think we have to learn to be up for each game the same way. We weren't up for this game the same way were up for Coffeyville. Playing with consistency and passion for the game is key."
After waiting more than an hour past the scheduled 4 o'clock start time because the conference inadvertently told the game officials that the game starter at 7 p.m. -- they hustled the best they could and the game started at 5:10 -- both teams played a bit sluggishly as the delay broke routine.
Barner tied the score at 13-13 with 8:13 left in the first half. But from that point on, Allen County (8-3 East, 13-9 overall) dominated. Erik Law came off the bench to score 5 consecutive points to help spark a run that saw the Red Devils go up 25-17. The Greyhounds (0-12, 3-21) scrapped back to get within 27-23 at the half as Robert Mason scored in transition with eight seconds left.
Allen County's lead grew as large as 14 points at times in the second half, with the final margin of 16 established in the final minute as the Red Devils made 6 of 6 free throws.
For the most part statistically, the game was even. Each team shot the same percentage from the field, 41 percent (Fort Scott on 18 of 44 and Allen on 23 of 56), and Fort Scott actually had a slight rebounding edge, 36-33. The big differences were in free-throw shooting, where the 'Hounds shot 59 percent (16 of 27) to Allen's 70 percent (21 of 30), and turnovers. Fort Scott committed 19 to Allen's 10. The Greyhounds had just 2 steals to the Devils' 14.
"We didn't play good defense," Cook said. "We didn't rebound well. And I thought we lost our focus with our ball handling a couple of times. Nineteen turnovers is not going to win the game for us. But we're stepping up. We have Independence next week. We gotta get back to being focused. Not winning a conference game and being on a losing streak is tough. But in life, things are tough and we have to find a way to get through it."
Foul trouble hasn't happened to hurt the Greyhounds often during this stretch but Saturday was as close as they've gotten. Two players fouled out, leaving just six eligible at the end. And two of those players had four fouls at game's end.
Taylor scored 18 points on 7-of-11 field-goal shooting and grabbed 18 rebounds for the Greyhounds. Jamaal McCoy added 9 points.
Anthony Clagett scored 18 points to lead Allen County while Law added 17 and Keevis Tukes finished with 12. Dennis Rumph grabbed 11 rebounds for the Devils.
The Greyhounds play at Independence at 8 p.m. Wednesday night. The Pirates (6-5, 13-10) lost to Cowley, 84-71, Saturday night and also were to play a make-up game against Allen County Monday night.
ALLEN COUNTY: Jackson 0-6 3-4 3, Rumph 3-7 1-5 8, Tukes 4-10 4-4 12, Clagett 5-9 7-8 18, Cole 1-4 2-2 4, Law 6-11 4-7 17, Bailey 2-4 0-0 4, Lee 2-5 0-0 4. TOTALS: 23-56 21-30 70.
FORT SCOTT: Mason 2-5 4-6 8, Hatcher 1-5 0-1 2, Brown 2-6 0-0 5, Taylor 7-11 4-8 18, Barner 1-5 2-2 4, McCoy 4-8 1-2 9, Gougler 1-4 5-8 8. TOTALS: 18-44 16-27 54.
Halftime: Allen County, 27-23.
Three-point field goals: Allen County 3-15 (Rumph 1-1, Clagett 1-1, Law 1-1, Cole 0-1, Bailey 0-1, Lee 0-1, Tukes 0-4, Jackson 0-5), Fort Scott 2-10 (Gougler 1-2, Brown 1-5, Taylor 0-1, Barner 0-2).
Total fouls: Allen County 17, Fort Scott 21. Fouled out: Lee, Hatcher, McCoy. Technical fouls: Lee 2, Rumph.
Rebounds: Allen County 33 (Rumph 11), Fort Scott 36 (Taylor 16). Assists: Allen County 10 (Jackson 4), Fort Scott 10 (Brown 3). Turnovers: Allen County 10, Fort Scott 19. Steals: Allen County 14 (Clagett 4), Fort Scott 2 (Barner, McCoy). Blocked shots: Allen County 3 (3 with 1 each), Fort Scott 3 (Taylor 3).