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Free throws aid Tiger boys
Free throws kept Fort Scott High's boys in the game during the first quarter and helped them in taking control during the second as the Tigers went on to defeated Labette County, 59-46, in Southeast Kansas League action at the FSHS gymnasium Tuesday night.
Six of Fort Scott's 8 first-quarter points came at the free-throw line. Then The Tigers (8-1 SEK, 12-5 overall) pulled away, going 7 for 8 from the charity stripe in the second while Labette County was kept off the scoreboard for over three minutes.
"The second quarter was the big part of the game, where we found some things and got going offensively," Fort Scott head coach Jeff DeLaTorre said. "We got some turnovers off our defense and we got our running game going a little bit more. I think that was the turning point of the game."
Labette County (2-8, 8-9) shot often in the first quarter but didn't make many, going 4 of 19 from the field and getting just 9 points out of all that effort. With another point coming from a free-throw, the Grizzlies led 10-8 after one.
The Tigers went 6 for 6 at the free-throw line and were still in it even though they didn't score the rest of the period following Mason Knopp's drive for a layup with 4:11 on the clock.
"We were doing some good things," DeLaTorre said. "We were getting to the basket and drawing some fouls. We made some free throws but we also had some shots kind of rim in and out that may have went in on a different night.
"It was kind of a struggle but we didn't get frustrated, we didn't panic. We just played though it. There's up and downs in every game and we found a way to get it going in the second."
The Tigers outscored Labette 21-7 in the second period, going on a 14-0 run that put them up 26-13 with 3:10 remaining. The scoring was balanced -- something becoming a trademark of this Fort Scott team -- with four players scoring during that streak, none of them more than 4 points.
Labette County's Zack Stewart scored the last basket of the half to bring his team within 29-17 and put him at 999 points for his high-school career. He got over the century mark on a jumper early in the third but Fort Scott got a fast break after his basket with Alex Fink scoring quickly at the other end so that Labette County's fans couldn't enjoy the moment for very long.
And while the 6' 6" Stewart finished with 22 points, including three 3-pointers, he wasn't getting much offensive support. No other Grizzly scored more than 6 points and only 6 points came from the bench.
Knopp's tip-in of a teammate's miss kicked off another scoring run as the third quarter waned. Wyatt Reehl hit a 3-point shot, then Fink picked up a loose ball and got it to Jacob Bradbury for a transition basket.
Fink scored a tip-in of his own and Benjamin Labbe followed up in transition to clean up a teammate's miss with 32 seconds left to cap the 11-0 run that made it 48-30 going into the final stanza.
Labette County tried to stay in the game, hitting some 3-pointers in the fourth. But the Tigers were answering each of Labette's shots and keeping the Grizzlies at bay.
Fink and Bradbury each scored 14 points for the Tigers while Knopp finished with 10. Fort Scott shot 45 percent from the floor, making 19 of 42 field-goal attempts and finished the game 19 of 23 from the free-throw line.
JUNIOR VARSITY -- Fort Scott's JV stands at 17-0 following a 59-30 win over Labette. Grant Goldston and Jordan Phillips each scored 11 points for the Tigers.
FRESHMEN -- Fort Scott's freshmen defeated Labette County, 47-40. Hudson Horn led with 18 points followed by Andrew Callahan with 11.
All of Fort Scott's teams play at Pittsburg Friday night.
LABETTE COUNTY: Krewson 1-5 0-0 3, Dwyer 2-4 0-0 5, Ryan 1-7 1-2 4, Dean 0-0 0-0 0, Holder 2-3 0-0 4, Mattox 3-8 0-2 6, O'Connor 0-1 0-0 0, Ty.Russell 0-0 0-0 0, Ta.Russell 1-3 0-0 2, Owens 0-4 0-0 0, Stewart 8-20 3-3 22, Brader 0-0 0-0 0, Reliford 0-1 0-0 0. TOTALS: 18-56 4-7 46.
FORT SCOTT: DeLaTorre 0-2 4-4 4, Smith 0-2 0-1 0, Brown 2-2 2-2 6, Hudiburg 0-0 0-0 0, Bradbury 4-9 5-6 14, Fink 5-7 4-4 14, Stepps 0-0 0-0 0, Robinson 0-0 0-0 0, Knopp 4-10 2-2 10, Martin 0-0 0-0 0, Reehl 2-5 0-0 5, Labbe 2-5 1-2 5, Cook 0-0 0-0 0, Goldston 0-0 1-2 1. TOTALS: 19-42 19-23 59.
Labette County.. 10 7 13 16 -- 46
Fort Scott..... 8 21 19 11 -- 59
Three-point field goals: Labette County 6-21 (Stewart 3-6, Ryan 1-2, Deywe 1-2, Krewson 1-3, Reliford 0-1, Ta.Russell 0-2, Owens 0-3), Fort Scott 2-11 (Reehl 1-3, Bradbury 1-5, Knopp 0-1, DeLaTorre 0-2).
Total fouls: Labette County 19, Fort Scott 12. Fouled out: Dwyer.
Rebounds: Labette County 33 (Stewart 10), Fort Scott 28 (Fink 5, Knopp 5). Assists: Labette County 5 (Ryan 2), Fort Scott 7 (Fink 4). Turnovers: Labette County 16, Fort Scott 11. Steals: Labette County 6 (Krewson 2), Fort Scott 13 (Bradbury 3). Blocked shots: Labette County 2 (Mattox 2), Fort Scott none.