Tigers earn third trip to Salina in four years

Monday, March 5, 2007

Fort Scott High School's boys earned their third trip to the Class 4A State Tournament in the past four seasons by defeating Louisburg, 64-56, in the finals of the Fort Scott Class 4A Sub-State Tournament at the FSHS gymnasium Saturday night.

It wasn't as easy as even that final score makes it appear to win this game. The top-seeded Tigers saw their leading scorer go the entire first half without scoring -- the last time that happened, Fort Scott lost -- and appeared to have lost one of their other senior starters to an injury in the second quarter.

But even though the second-seeded Wildcats came back to make it a six-point game late in the contest, the 13-3 deficit Fort Scott put them into after one period was too much for them to overcome.

"That was a very tough ball game," Fort Scott head coach Jeff DeLaTorre said. "I'm really proud of those kids down there and the way they worked and how hard they played. And we probably faced as much adversity as you can face in a ball game."

It didn't seem like there would be much of a problem for the Tigers, 19-4, at first. Chris Banks, Zach Smith and Kevin Gray each scored in the first 2 1/2 minutes to put Fort Scott up 7-0.

Anthony Powell converted a three-point play to give Louisburg its only points of the period. Then Tony Karleskint scored a jumper and Alex Barner put in the last four points of the quarter to boost the margin to 10.

Louisburg made only one of eight shots from the field in the first quarter. But their offense warmed up in the second as the Wildcats scored 13 of the first 16 of the period. Jeff Woods' three-point goal tied the score at 16-16 with 3:41 to go.

After the teams traded baskets, Chris Banks suffered an ankle injury and had to be helped off the court and into the locker room to have it looked at.

It was one of those "Uh-oh" moments. But nobody dressed in white had any worries. In fact, Kevin Gray hit two free throws after Banks left and that started a 11-2 run that put the Tigers back in control.

"Instead of getting down about Banks getting hurt," DeLaTorre said, "we go on a run to end the half. That was a big part of the game."

John Leek's 22-foot three-point shot as the horn sounded increased Fort Scott's lead to 32-22 going into the locker room.

Zach Quick didn't have any points at the half, which is an unusual statistic and a troubling one if you're a Tiger fan with a long memory. Quick didn't have any points at the half in the game at Webb City, Mo. on December 19. Although he did end up with 20 that night and the Tigers rallied, Fort Scott lost that game by one point.

The fact that the Tigers were leading by 10 on this night despite this worrisome stat should show how far they've come in the past two months. Yes, they've won 13 straight games but at the holiday break, Fort Scott was 3-3.

Louisburg, however, didn't care about such things even if they knew about them. The Wildcats were fighting to get back into the game and they got within 41-35 after Jason Spradling took a steal in for a layup with 1:48 left in the third. But the Tigers scored eight of the next 10 before Louisburg's Cody Hink hit a three-point shot with three seconds left to cut the deficit to 49-40.

"We had some foul trouble and all kinds of things that haven't happened to us before tonight," DeLaTorre said of the third quarter. "But we had guys like Matt Wheeler come in and do a great job. Alex Barner did a good job off the bench. John Leek gave us some quality minutes. Everybody who came in was a key in the victory tonight. That's what I think I'm most happy about."

Wheeler -- who hit a key three-pointer in that late third-quarter run -- capped a 7-2 run early in the fourth with a layup to make it 56-44 with 3:20 to go.

But the Wildcats made one last run, getting within 58-52 after Hink hit another three with 2:42 remaining.

It was late enough that Louisburg had to foul and the Tigers traded points with the 'Cats in the last minute and a half.

Zach Smith led the Tigers with 11 points while Quick finished with 10. Wheeler brought nine points in off the bench.

With the outside shooters struggling somewhat, the inside trio of Jeff Johnson, Tony Karleskint and Barner combined to make seven of 11 shots from the field and four of five free throws for 18 points and grab a total of 13 rebounds.

"We told the guys in the shoot-around today that to win a championship like this you have to have all 12 guys ready," DeLaTorre said. "And little did I know that this was going to happen with injuries and foul trouble but you have to be prepared. Tonight was a perfect example."

Spradling led Louisburg with 15 points while Woods finished with 12.

The Tigers shot 46 percent from the floor, making 22 of 48 field-goal attempts. Louisburg made only 39 percent of its shots on 20 of 51.

Fort Scott outrebounded Louisburg, 35-31. Quick grabbed 10 boards for the Tigers and also dished six assists and blocked three shots.

After a series of coin tosses between three teams with the same record, Fort Scott earned the No. 5 seed at State. They'll take on No. 4 Lindsborg-Smoky Valley, also 19-4, in the final game Wednesday. Tip-off is scheduled for 8:15 p.m.

Also qualifying for State is Girard, which defeated Coffeyville, 66-44, in the finals of its own Sub-State Saturday night. The Trojans, 22-1, are the No. 1 seed and will play Andover, 17-5, at 6:30 Wednesday. This will be Girard's first State appearance since 1990.

Returning once again, also for the third time in the past four seasons, is Andover Central, 19-4. The Jaguars are the No. 6 seed and will take on No. 3 Kansas City-Piper, 20-3, at 4:45.

The first game of the day, at 3 p.m., sees No. 2 Thomas More Prep of Hays, 21-1, going against No. 7 Atchison, 18-4.

The defending champion, Scott City, was moved down to Class 3A this season. Of last year's qualifiers, only Smoky Valley and Piper -- both of which lost in the first round -- are back this year.