Tiger boys survive battle with Coffeyville

Fort Scott senior Alex Fink (22) goes up for a score during the first half of play at the FSHS gymnasium Friday night. Fink led the Tigers with 18 points in a 53-50 Southeast Kansas League victory over the Golden Tornado. (Kenny Felt/Special to the Tribune)

Fort Scott High's boys survived a battle with Coffeyville in Southeast Kansas League action on Homecoming Friday night at the FSHS gymnasium, finally claiming victory when Alex Fink rebounded a last-second 3-pointer by the Golden Tornado that missed the mark in the final seconds of play.

The Tigers' 53-50 victory over the Nado puts them dead even with Independence in the SEK race. The Bulldogs defeated Frontenac in a non-league contest, 65-48, Friday night to remain undefeated after 13 games overall. Both Fort Scott (8-4 overall) and Independence are 5-0 in the SEK and face each other Tuesday night in the IHS gymnasium.

The Tigers led by 10 points, 41-31, going into the fourth quarter and one of Coffeyville's top players, Jawuan Thompson, drew his fourth foul just before the third period ended.

But having Thompson on the bench didn't stop the Nado from rallying. Seth Graham started the quarter with a 3-pointer. Then Anthony Swift made 2 free throws and came back a few seconds later to take Brad Hershey's steal in for a layup to cut the deficit to 41-38 with 7:02 remaining.

Mason Knopp scored consecutive baskets for the Tigers to get the lead back up to 7 points with 6:08 to go. Graham hit another 3-pointer, this from the left side of the court, for Coffeyville (3-2, 8-5).

Thompson came back in and converted a 3-point play with 4:58 to go to cut the deficit to 3 points again, 47-44. Kaleb DeLaTorre responded for the Tigers by hitting a 3-point shot from the top of the key with 3:18 to go.

Thompson converted another 3-point play with 3:07 left to trim the margin to 50-47.

With 2:17 to go, Tevaughn Lewis scored a layup for Coffeyville, bringing the Nado within 51-49. Graham made one of two free throws with 1:38 left.

Knopp took a pass from Fink and scored a key layup with 55 seconds to go. Fort Scott had a chance to make the lead bigger but Fink was called for a player control foul while driving in for a layup -- the fourth player control called in the quarter against the Tigers and the third called while a Fort Scott player was going in for a layup.

Graham was fouled with 20 second remaining and missed both free throws. Fink got the rebound for the Tigers and passed to DeLaTorre who was fouled with 16 seconds left.

DeLaTorre missed the front end of the one-and-one and Coffeyville rebounded. Head coach Tyler Thompson called a time out with 11 seconds remaining.

Out of the time out, the Nado went left but a bobble on a pass caused a reset of the play and the ball came back out top. Swift took the 3-point shot from up top with three seconds to go. It bounced off the rim and into Fink's hands just as the final horn sounded.

Fink led the Tigers in scoring with 18 points and also had 7 rebounds. He made 5 of 8 field-goal attempts and 7 of 8 free throws. Knopp finished with 12 points for Fort Scott.

Thompson scored 15 of his team-leading 17 points in the second half for Coffeyville. Graham added 10 points.

Fort Scott shot 47 percent from the field, making 17 of 36 field-goal tries. Coffeyville shot 45 percent of 19 of 42.

Coffeyville outrebounded Fort Scott, 27-25. Devonte Robinson also had 7 rebounds for the Tigers.

Fink handed out 3 assists and Wyatt Reehl picked up 4 steals.

The first quarter was played at a brisk pace early before settling down. Chase Brown drove in for a layup that gave the Tigers a 9-6 lead with 5:58 to go. But the Tornado scored 7 of the last 9 points of the period to take a 13-10 lead going into the second.

The second quarter was played at a pace more to the Tigers' liking and they were effective on both sides of the ball, outscoring Coffeyville 15-4 in the period. A 3-point shot by DeLaTorre was the offensive highlight of a 9-0 half-ending run that made it 25-17 at the break.

Thompson got ignited in the third quarter after failing to score at all in the second. He scored 6 points in a 9-3 run that was capped by a Graham 3-pointer to bring the Nado within 34-30 with 3:37 left.

Fink sparked a 7-1 run to end the quarter with a layup from a Reehl pass.

JUNIOR VARSITY -- See story here for a summary of the week in junior varsity play, including results from a tournament at El Dorado Springs.

FRESHMEN -- Tiger freshmen defeated a Coffeyville freshmen-sophomore team, 70-37. Jessie Jones led Fort Scott with 20 points while Gunnar Brown added 12 and Andrew Callahan scored 11.

COFFEYVILLE: Swift 1-7 3-4 5, Graham 3-10 1-5 10, Lewis 3-5 0-0 6, Hershey 3-4 0-2 6, K.Wilson 3-4 0-1 6, Mayfield 0-1 0-0 0, Vacca 0-1 0-0 0, Thompson 6-10 5-9 17. TOTALS: 19-42 9-21 50.

FORT SCOTT: DeLaTorre 3-5 0-1 9, Smith 1-1 0-0 2, Brown 1-4 3-4 5, Hudiburg 0-0 0-0 0, Bradbury 1-3 0-0 2, Fink 5-8 7-8 18, Robinson 1-2 0-4 2, Knopp 4-9 4-5 12, Reehl 0-3 0-0 0, Labbe 1-1 1-2 3. TOTALS: 17-36 15-24 53.

Fort Scott................... 10 15 16 12 -- 53

Three-point field goals: Coffeyville 3-11 (Graham 3-6, Mayfield 0-1, Swift 0-4), Fort Scott 4-10 (DeLaTorre 3-4, Fink 1-1, Bradbury 0-1, Knopp 0-1, Reehl 0-3).

Total fouls: Coffeyville 20, Fort Scott 22. Fouled out: None.

Rebounds: Coffeyville 27 (K.Wilson 6), Fort Scott 25 (Fink 7, Robinson 7). Assists: Coffeyville 7 (3 with 2 each), Fort Scott 11 (Fink 3). Turnovers: Coffeyville 15, Fort Scott 15. Steals: Coffeyville 8 (Thompson 3), Fort Scott 12 (Reehl 4). Blocked shots: Coffeyville 1 (Swift), Fort Scott 1 (DeLaTorre).