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Tigers advance easily
Fort Scott High's boys weren't challenged much by eighth-seeded Prairie View in the first round of their own Class 4A Sub-State Tournament at the FSHS gymnasium Monday night.
The Tigers, ranked No. 6 in the latest Kansas Basketball Coaches Association poll, took an easy 63-33 win over the Buffalos and will face Anderson County Thursday night at 7:30. The fifth-seeded Bulldogs, 11-10, got 29 points from senior post Jeremy Sutton in a 59-44 win over fourth-seeded Paola, whose season ended at 10-11.
The other semifinal, to be played Thursday at 6, features No. 2 Louisburg, 14-7, against No. 3 Iola, 12-9. Louisburg routed No. 7 Osawatomie, 81-37, Monday night as 6' 4" junior Jordan Embers and 6-foot junior Jason Spradling each scored 16 points. Iola beat Spring Hill, 64-62, with Eric Sparks scoring 20 points and Josh Honeycutt adding 16.
The Tigers, 17-4, clicked from the start, when they took a 7-0 lead in just over a minute on a three-point goal and a layup by Chris Banks and a layup by Jeff Johnson.
Another 6-0 run at the end of the period, with a Kevin Gray jumper and two Zach Quick baskets, made it a 19-9 lead going into the second period.
"We had some fast break opportunities, moved the ball and found the open man," Fort Scott head coach Jeff DeLaTorre said. "And that's what's great to see when you have all five guys working together. That's when we're working our best.
"That's what we want to have, especially this time of year. We need everybody clicking on all cylinders. When we can get five or six guys at or near double figures, that's when we're doing our best."
Prairie View, 3-18, scored only four points in the second period. The Tigers outscored the Buffalos 13-2 in the final 3:36 of the half and those two points came on a pair of free throws.
Fort Scott's lead was 39-13 at the half and increased to 48-18 after three. The Tigers made 15 of 28 field-goal attempts in the first half and also held Prairie View to six of 30 in the first three periods.
"At this time of year, you'll take them any way you can get them," DeLaTorre said. "But when you can kind of pull away like we did and get some kids some playing time and rest some of you kids at the end, that's a good situation to be in.
"We're happy and excited about this win but now we know we have to get ready for round two."
Quick finished with 14 points for the Tigers, who shot 47 percent for the game on 26 of 55. Zach Smith added 13 points while Banks and Tony Karleskint each scored 10.
Toby Cornejo led Prairie View with 10 points. The Buffalos shot 29 percent from the field on the night on 13 of 45.
FSHS outrebounded Prairie View, 35-29. Alex Barner led the Tigers with eight rebounds.
Quick dished six of Fort Scott's 14 assists. He and Karleskint each picked up three of the Tigers' 12 steals.
Four Fort Scott players blocked a shot. Barner blocked two of them.
NOTES -- Play in the girls' bracket gets underway tonight with the fifth-seeded Tigers traveling to Iola to take on the Fillies at 7 p.m. The teams have faced each other twice this season with the visitor winning a low-scoring affair each time....
Other girls' games have No. 1 Paola hosting Osawatomie, No. 2 Louisburg entertaining Prairie View and No. 3 Spring Hill taking on Anderson County.
Girls' semifinals will be played Friday at FSHS at 6 and 7:30 p.m.....