No. 4 Hutchinson rolls by Greyhounds

HUTCHINSON -- No. 4-ranked Hutchinson scored the first 14 points of the contest on its way to defeating Fort Scott Community College's men, 80-47, on the first night of the Quarterback Classic here Thursday night.

Fort Scott (0-2) missed its first six shots of the contest and made only 6 field goals in the first half on 29 attempts. This performance came two days after shooting 57 percent from the floor in a 93-90 overtime loss to Redlands (Okla.).

The Greyhounds started off in a zone defense but had to switch. It wasn't because of Hutchinson's outside shooting, but rather because of the Blue Dragons' ability to find holes in the lane for layups.

The 'Hounds prevented a blowout early and kept the score within 29-12 with under 7 minutes left in the first half. But then Hutch's 3-point specialists started connecting and four of those in a row helped make it 43-16 with around 3 minutes left.

The final triple, by Bruce Reed, sparked a 7-point half ending run. The Dragons also scored the first 5 of the second half to make it 55-16.

Robert Mason was Fort Scott's only double-digit scorer, finishing with 14 points. Gary Floyd followed with 7.

No statistics were available for Hutchinson (1-0).

The Greyhounds take on Weatherford (Texas) this afternoon at 3:30 p.m. Weatherford defeated Lincoln Land (Ill.) 65-48 in the first game of the evening. Hutchinson will face Lincoln Land tonight at 7:30.

Fort Scott and Hutchinson's women will join the field tonight with the Greyhounds (0-1) facing Pratt at 1:30 and Hutchinson taking on the Tabor College junior varsity at 5:30.

Saturday's schedule begins with Pratt's women facing Pratt at 1:30. Fort Scott's men will play Lincoln Land at 3:30 followed by the Greyhound women versus Hutchinson at 5:30. The classic wraps up with Hutchinson's men facing Weatherford at 7:30.

NOTES -- Floyd scored 30 points on 8-of-11 shooting in Tuesday night's loss. He made 5 of 8 shots from 3-point range. It was the first collegiate game for the Fort Scott High School graduate.

Also in that game, Mason scored 15 points and Teance Walton finished with 12 points and 17 rebounds....

Floyd's 30-point game was the first by a Greyhound freshman since Kurklin Bohanon scored 34 against Neosho County in February 2009....

Fort Scott lost to Hutchinson 76-47 in the first round of last season's Region VI Tournament, which was also played at the Hutchinson Sports Arena....

The Greyhounds have failed to score 50 points in four of their last five road games....

Fort Scott has lost 24 of its last 25 games....