Fort Scott boys hold off Bulldogs, face Paola tonight

Fort Scott senior Cameron Woodring (24) passes the ball between two Chanute defenders during a first-round Sub-State tournament game at Fort Scott Tuesday night. Woodring scored 11 of his game-high 25 points during the third quarter of Friday night's Sub-State semifinal at Louisburg to help give the Tigers the momentum they needed to beat Anderson County 72-61. The Tigers face Paola for the championship at 7:30 p.m. tonight in Louisburg, Kan. (Kenny Felt/Special to the Tribune)

LOUISBURG, Kan. -- Fort Scott High's boys, the top seed at the Louisburg Class 4A Sub-State, will have to stop the Cinderella of the tournament if they want to advance to state.

The Tigers held off an Anderson County squad that was desperate not to let its season end in Friday night's first semifinal, 72-61, while sixth-seeded Paola beat Miami County rival Osawatomie, 61-52, in the second. This sets up tonight's 7:30 championship game between the Tigers (17-5) and Panthers (9-13), who have won their two Sub-State games by an average of 9 1/2 points.

Fourth-seeded Anderson County (8-14) lost to Fort Scott in December by 22 points. But Friday night, the Bulldogs came out with a plan that worked well in the first half. They went inside to their posts, 6' 4" Eric Tastove and 6' 5" Jason Stoneking, who scored 9 of their 17 points in the period as the 'Dogs went out to a 17-14 lead.

Defensively, Anderson County at times extended a 2-3 zone way out past the top of the key in an effort to ensure Fort Scott didn't do any damage with the 3-point shot. Ironically, the Tigers got back-to-back threes from Tyler Adams and Cameron Woodring in the final 1:34 of the half against a man-to-man defense and took a 32-31 lead into the locker room.

"I thought we were a little bit tight in the first half," DeLaTorre said. "Maybe we got that out of the way. I hope we come out with a lot of confidence (tonight) and it'll be a tough game no matter who we play."

Stoneking gave Anderson County its final lead when he scored the first basket of the second half. Fort Scott then went on an 11-2 run to go in front for good. Woodring scored 6 points during that run and 11 in the quarter as he connected on all five of his shots from the field.

"He shot it extremely well and he hit some big shots when we really needed them," DeLaTorre said. "There in that third quarter we needed to get going and he hit some big shots."

Stoneking and Tastove also had to spend a lot of time on the bench in the third as each of them picked up their third foul early. By the end of the period, Fort Scott's lead was 54-41.

Stoneking came back in and scored a couple of baskets early in the fourth before fouling out with just over five minutes to go. Fort Scott made just three field goals in the period. But the Tigers didn't need more than that as the Bulldogs started fouling to save time early and Fort Scott made 11 of 16 free throws in the quarter.

Woodring finished with 25 points as he made 8 of 14 shots from the floor. Adams connected on 6 of 11 fielders to finish with 17 and Kyle Altic finished with 11 points, making 7 of his 8 free-throw attempts.

Stoneking finished with 16 points for Anderson County. Tastove and guard Clay Yoder scored 14 each.

Fort Scott shot 47 percent from the field, making 23 of 49 field-goal attempts, while also connecting on 20 of 26 free throws. Anderson County shot 50 percent from the floor on 25 of 50 -- but went just 7 of 16 in the fourth -- and made 8 of 11 charity tosses.

Anderson County outrebounded Fort Scott, 30-28, with Altic hauling down eight, and Matt Wright bringing down six.

Fort Scott forced 20 turnovers while committing only 13. Johnathan Stark picked up 7 steals. He and Woodring each dished 5 assists.

Paola 61, Osawatomie 52.

The Panthers took the lead for good with an 8-0 run to end the first quarter. Brandon Goodman and Austin Dent hit back-to-back threes and Dent made two free throws with one second remaining on the clock.

The second-seeded Trojans (13-9), who were the only other team in this Sub-State with a winning record, got back within one point, 40-39, as Cole Rayl capped a 7-0 run with a layup with 1:49 left in the third quarter. But Goodman scored the last four points of the period for the Panthers.

Osawatomie got back within one again twice in the early stages of the fourth quarter. Austin Chisam cut the deficit to 47-46 with a 3-point goal with 5:50 left. Paola scored the next six with Goodman's triple from the top of the key effectively administering the death blow.

Paola held Osawatomie to just one point in the final 3:15 while making 8 of 11 free throws in that stretch.

Goodman, a 5' 10", junior guard, converted four of seven 3-point shots as he led all scorers with 20 points. Justin Dunmars, a 6' 3" senior point guard, added 10 points and also handed out 5 assists.

Rayl led Osawatomie with 15 points while Josh Criddle finished with a double-double, 10 points and 11 rebounds.

Paola shot 39 percent from the field on 17 of 44, made 20 of 29 free throws and outrebounded their rivals 36-26. Osawatomie shot 37 percent on 17 of 46 and made just 3 of 13 3-point shots.

Tonight's Fort Scott-Paola game will be preceded by the girls' championship contest between second-seeded Osawatomie (13-9) and fifth-seeded Chanute (10-12), which knocked off top-seeded Prairie View (18-4) by a 52-43 score Thursday night. Both games will be held at the Louisburg High School gymnasium, which is located on the far east side of the city on K-68.

(4) ANDERSON COUNTY: Walter 0-1 0-0 0, Lickteig 2-3 2-2 6, Miller 0-0 0-0 0, Mecnig 2-4 0-0 5, Hilliard 1-3 0-0 2, Stoneking 8-17 0-0 16, Hermreck 0-1 0-0 0, Rickabaugh 2-3 0-0 4, Tastove 5-12 4-7 14, Yoder 5-6 2-2 14. TOTALS: 25-50 8-11 61.

(1) FORT SCOTT: Stark 0-3 4-4 4, Adams 6-11 3-4 17, Wright 3-6 0-0 6, Fink 1-2 0-0 2, Woodring 8-14 6-10 25, Pytlowany 1-2 0-0 3, Altic 2-5 7-8 11, Durbin 2-6 0-0 4. TOTALS: 23-49 20-26 72.

Fort Scott......... 14 18 22 18 -- 72

Three-point field goals: Anderson County 3-7 (Yoder 2-2, Mechnig 1-3, Hilliard 0-1), Fort Scott 6-15 (Woodring 3-6, Adams 2-6, Pytlowany 1-2, Stark 0-1).

Total fouls: Anderson County 17, Fort Scott 13. Fouled out: Stoneking. Tehcnical fouls: None.

Rebounds: Anderson County 30 (Tastove 12), Fort Scott 28 (Altic 8). Assists: Anderson County 12 (Mechnig 3), Fort Scott 15 (Stark 5, Woodring 5). Turnovers: Anderson County 20, Fort Scott 13. Steals: Anderson County 10 (Stoneking 4), Fort Scott 14 (Stark 7). Blocked shots: Anderson County 2 (Stoneking, Tastove), Fort Scott 4 (Altic 3).

(6) PAOLA: Dent 1-3 5-6 8, Dunmars 3-11 4-7 10, Goodman 5-10 6-10 20, Wilson 2-6 1-2 6, Debrick 2-3 2-2 6, Henn 0-1 0-0 0, Haefele 0-2 2-2 2, Wilkes 4-8 0-0 9, Johnson 0-0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 17-44 20-29 61.

(2) OSAWATOMIE: Oakes 3-8 2-2 9, Chisam 1-5 1-2 4, Needham 1-2 0-0 2, Criddle 4-10 2-5 10, Rayl 4-11 7-8 15, Richardson 1-3 3-4 5, Ohlmeier 3-7 0-0 7. TOTALS: 17-46 15-21 52.

Osawatomie....... 11 19 11 11 -- 52

Three-point field goals: Paola 7-18 (Goodman 4-7, Wilson 1-1, Dent 1-3, Wilkes 1-4, Dunmars 0-1, Debrock 0-1, Henn 0-1, Haefele 0-1), Osawatomie 3-13 (Oakes 1-3, Chisam 1-3, Ohlmeier 1-4, Criddle 0-3).

Total fouls: Paola 19, Osawatomie 22. Fouled out: Oakes, Needham. Technical fouls: None.

Rebounds: Paola 36 (Wilson 9), Osawatomie 26 (Criddle 11). Assists: Paola 7 (Dunmars 5), Osawatomie 6 (Chisam 2, Rayl 2). Turnovers: Paola 13, Osawatomie 12. Steals: Paola 4 (Wilson 4), Osawatomie 4 (Criddle 4). Blocked shots: none.