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Coach displeased with play despite win
By Scott Nuzum
Tribune Sports Editor
Fort Scott Community College’s men won their eighth consecutive game Wednesday night, beating Kansas City Kansas, 79-65, in Jayhawk Conference-Division II play at Arnold Arena.
But despite staying on top of the Region VI standings and continuing the program’s longest winning streak since the 1999-2000 season, head coach Michael Cook was displeased with how his team played. In fact, he didn’t even wait for a question — he knew what he wanted to say and he said it.
“It was sloppy,” Cook said. “We’re getting comfortable. Winning doesn’t mean you take breaks. Winning means you stay disciplined. The thing you did to win games before, you still have to do them the entire year. We’re not doing them.
“Yeah, we played good in spurts. But, to me, that was the worst game we played all year. We didn’t execute. Everybody was wanting to say they scored 20 points instead of doing our jobs. Our rotations were horrible. We fouled at the end when we shouldn’t have. Even on the last play of the game, we fouled. We’re out there playing to the crowd instead of doing what we’re supposed to do.”
The Greyhounds (2-0 conference, 3-0 region, 17-6 overall) led 41-30 at the half. The second half was where the lack of discipline was evident. After about six minutes, when they had extended the lead to 23 points, they took the intensity down a notch instead of going for the knockout blow. Kansas City (0-2, 0-3, 7-16) was able to keep the margin from getting bigger — they got within 64-46 with 8 1/2 minutes left — and then make some inroads. Late in the half, the Blue Devils outscored the ’Hounds 17-4 in a four-minute that brought them back within 73-63 with 2:00 left.
“We had some spurts,” Cook said. “Tyler Zinn played good. At times, Decquan (Richardson) played good. Dre (Andre Nelson) went and got rebounds in the second half. But we’re not playing 40 minutes of basketball. We’re playing in spurts and that’s disappointing because we’re better than that and we haven’t shown it yet.”
The Greyhounds built a 13-point lead midway through the first half by using a 15-3 run. Zinn hit a pair of 3-point shots to start the run and Jayden Davis connected on one to cap it with 6:22 to go, making it 28-15.
It was 41-30 at halftime after Fort Scott shot 59 percent from the floor, connecting on 16 of 27 field-goal attempts. Kansas City managed to make 11 of 20 attempts.
Zinn kicked off the second half with a 3-pointer as the ’Hounds scored 16 of the first 20 of the second half to make it 57-34 with 14:39 remaining.
Richardson’s basket with 6:12 to go made it 69-46 but Fort Scott only scored 10 points the remainder of the contest. KCK post Tyson Beringer made back-to-back baskets to bring the Devils within 10 at the two-minute mark before fouling out. Fort Scott scored the next 6 with Zinn contributing 5 on two free throws and a 3-pointer.
For the game, the Greyhounds shot 49 percent on 30 of 61 but made only 9 of their last 27. Zinn made six 3-pointers on his way to a 26-point, 5-assist, 5-steal, 4-rebound performance. John Montgomery added 17 points on 8-of-13 shooting and also had 7 rebounds and 3 assists. Dontrell Sanders finished with 12 points, 6 boards, 3 assists and 3 steals.
Sterling Hicks led Kansas City with 24 points and Juwaun Davenport added 23. The Devils shot 46 percent for the game on 21 of 46.
The Greyhounds dominated the boards, 38-21. Andre Nelson led with 10 rebounds, 9 coming in the second half.
Fort Scott plays at Johnson County at 4 p.m. today. This will be a key game in the region as the Cavaliers are also 3-0 in the region but just 11-12 overall.
“We have a big game Saturday and maybe we looked ahead to it,” Cook said. “We’ll see. Maybe we’ll figure it out.”
KANSAS CITY KANSAS: Buckner 1-4 0-0 3, Davenport 6-10 10-10 23, Thomas 0-3 0-0 0, Sweet 0-0 0-0 0, Beard 0-0 1-2 1, Hicks 8-17 2-2 24, Laws 2-4 0-0 4, Tate 0-0 0-0 0, Ratlift 1-3 1-2 3, Beringer 3-5 1-2 4. TOTALS: 21-46 15-18 65.
FORT SCOTT: Zinn 8-16 4-6 26, Montgomery 8-13 0-0 17, Davis 2-7 0-0 5, Brocato 1-3 2-2 4, Nelson 3-8 2-3 8, Jones 1-3 0-0 3, Sanders 5-9 1-1 12, Richardson 2-2 0-0 4. TOTALS: 30-61 9-12 79.
Kansas City Kansas............ 30 35 — 65
Fort Scott................................ 41 38 — 79
Three-point field goals: Kansas City 8-16 (Hicks 6-10, Davenport 1-2, Buckner 1-3, Thomas 0-1), Fort Scott 10-26 (Zinn 6-12, Montgomery 1-2, Sanders 1-2, Jones 1-3, Davis 1-4).
Total fouls: Kansas City 13, Fort Scott 14. Fouled out: Beringer, Brocato.
Rebounds: Kansas City 21 (3 with 4 each), Fort Scott 38 (Nelson 10). Assists: Kansas City 9 (Davenport 4), Fort Scott 17 (Zinn 5). Turnovers: Kansas City 16, Fort Scott 15. Steals: Kansas City 8 (Hicks 3), Fort Scott 10 (Zinn 5). Blocked shots: Kansas City 4 (Beringer 3), Fort Scott 1 (Sanders).