Tiger boys get first win of season, 45-34

PARSONS -- Fort Scott High School's boys got their first win of the season here Friday night but still had to overcome their recent first-quarter doldrums in order to get it.

The Tigers made just 1 of 14 field-goal attempts in the first quarter but trailed only 9-6. They outscored Parsons 16-4 in the fourth to claim a 45-34 Southeast Kansas League victory at Harold C. Johnson Gymnasium.

Senior Johnathan Stark and junior Garin Sinn, both of whom missed Friday night's game against Coffeyville due to the flu, were the Tigers' scoring leaders. Stark made just one field goal, a 3-pointer, but made 8 of 12 free throws to lead Fort Scott with 12 points. Sinn scored 4 field goals, including the one that put the redclads ahead for good, 33-32, with around five minutes remaining in the contest, and finished with 11 points.

Fort Scott (1-2 SEK, 1-5 overall) avoided their first 0-6 start to a season since 1980-81. That team began the season with seven consecutive losses.

The Tigers missed their first 12 field-goal attempts and trailed 9-4 with 1:44 left in the opening quarter after Parsons' Logan Dickinson scored 6 straight points for his team. Mason Knopp, making his first start of the season, scored in transition with 18 seconds left to break that streak of futility.

Parsons (0-4, 1-5) led 17-11 with five minutes left in the half. But Chris Davenport scored 6 straight for the Tigers to tie the score. The Vikings led by one point at the break on a Tayquan Wells free throw.

Stark's only fielder put Fort Scott up 23-20 early in the third but Parsons responded with a 9-0 run capped when Isaiah Taylor stuck back a teammate's missed shot.

The Tigers scored 6 of the last 7 of the quarter, getting within 30-29 on Kaleb DeLaTorre's 3-pointer. He stuck back a teammate's miss for the first points of the final stanza.

Taylor put Parsons ahead again, 32-31, when he scored a layup. He was fouled on the play but couldn't make the free throw.

Sinn gave the Tigers the lead moments later. Alex Fink converted an old-fashioned 3-point play and Sinn scored again to make it 38-32 with 3:35 left.

Craig Beachner scored what turned out to be Parsons' final points on a basket with 2:30 left. Sinn made 1 of 2 free throws, Stark followed by making both ends of a one-and-one and Jash Pytlowany converted a steal with 55 seconds left to make it 43-34.

Payton Hays led Parsons with 9 points.

The Tigers are idle until the new year, when they will travel to Independence, which was bumped from ranks of the unbeaten by Labette County Tuesday night. Tucker Thompson's buzzer beater gave the Grizzlies the 48-47 victory that dropped the Bulldogs to 3-1 SEK, 6-1 overall.

FORT SCOTT: DeLaTorre 2 2-3 7, Woodring 0 0-0 0, Sather 1 0-0 3, Brown 0 1-2 1, Pytlowany 1 0-0 2, Fink 1 1-1 3, Stark 1 8-12 11, Sinn 4 2-5 10, Knopp 1 0-0 2, Davenport 2 2-2 6, Olin 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 13-49 16-25 45.

PARSONS: I.Taylor 4 0-3 8, Hammer 2 0-0 4, Hays 3 0-0 9, Beachner 2 0-0 4, Willliamson 0 1-2 1, C.Taylor 0 1-3 1, Dickinson 3 0-0 6, Russell 0 0-0 0, Wells 0 1-3 1. TOTALS: 14-41 3-11 34.

Parsons............... 9 9 12 4 -- 34

Three-point field goals: Fort Scott 3-18 (DeLaTorre, Sather, Stark), Parsons 3-10 (Hays 3).

Total fouls: Fort Scott 19, Parsons 20. Fouled out: None. Technical fouls: None.