Fort Scott defense clinches 41-34 win over Vikes

Fort Scott senior Johnathan Stark (22) drives by Parsons' Craig Beachner during first-half action at the FSHS gymnasium Tuesday night. The pair were matched up with each other most of the game on defense with Stark scoring 21 points in the Tigers' 41-34 victory. (Kenny Felt/Exclusive to the Tribune)

The identity of the Fort Scott High School boys' basketball team is abundantly clear: A defensive-oriented squad that's going to win games with scores in the 40s.

And that could earn the Tigers a first-round home game in their own Sub-State coming up in two weeks.

Tuesday night at the FSHS gymnasium, the Tigers allowed Parsons 20 field-goal attempts the entire game as Fort Scott took a Southeast Kansas League battle from Parsons, 41-34.

The Tigers are 4-5 in the SEK, 7-10 overall. And they're 7-2 when they allow an opponent fewer than 50 points.

They still have a shot to finish second in the SEK. Coffeyville has clinched the title but after last night's results from around the league game in, the Tigers found themselves just a game and a half behind second-place Independence, which visits Fort Scott Friday night. The teams in second through sixth place are within 1 1/2 games of each other.

Fort Scott hosts a Class 4A Sub-State Tournament February 25-March 2. But even the tournament host has to play its first-round game on the road if it's not one of the top four seeds. The middle of the group of teams assigned to the Sub-State are close together in terms of their overall records.

"Each game night and the next morning, it seems like there's three or four changes in seeding every time," Fort Scott head coach Jeff DeLaTorre said. "One night, we went from seventh to fifth. If we could have beaten Coffeyville the other night, we might have been fourth but instead we dropped to sixth. It's been crazy.

"We have three games that count (for seeding) and this was one of them. If we can get two out of the three -- or three out of the three -- we still have a chance to play in the first round at home. It's that wide open."

Of course, after pointing out the fact that the Tigers have morphed into a defensive juggernaut, one goes back to the first quarter to find that a 13-2 run opened the game and gave Fort Scott a generous lead to protect. Jash Pytlowany opened things up with a 3-point goal. Parsons' Payton Hays -- the Vikings' leading scorer on the night with 11 points -- followed up with a layup. Then the Tigers scored the next 10, with Stark scoring the first 8 and Alex Fink scoring off a steal.

Parsons (1-10, 3-15) got within 15-8 by the end of the period but Fort Scott scored 7 straight to open the second. Pytlowany jumpers sandwiched a 3-pointer by Kaleb DeLaTorre.

The Vikings found their 3-point shot late in the half and made three in a row to close to within 24-20 before Stark made one of two free throws to end the half.

The Vikings got within one or two points several times in the second half but the Tigers answered each time. The last time was 35-34 on Troy Williamson's layup with 3:53 to go.

Parsons never scored again.

The Tigers worked the ball around to find the best shot. That got Garin Sinn a layup with 3:21 to go. Seconds later, Sinn made two technical free throws to make it 39-34.

Parsons couldn't respond because they couldn't find a shot. The Vikes attempted just 4 field goals in the final stanza, making one.

Because there were so few shots, there were only 39 rebounds between the teams -- Parsons had 20 of them. Fort Scott made 38 percent of its field-goal attempts on 14 of 37 and committed just 6 turnovers.

Independence (6-4, 13-5) stunned Labette County, 46-39, Tuesday night to take over second place in the SEK.

PARSONS: I.Taylor 0-2 4-4 4, Hammer 1-3 3-4 5, Hays 4-5 0-0 11, Dickinson 0-0 0-0 0, C.Taylor 0-0 1-2 1, Beachner 3-7 2-4 9, Williamson 2-3 0-0 4. TOTALS: 10-20 10-14 34.

FORT SCOTT: DeLaTorre 1-3 1-2 4, Sather 0-0 0-0 0, Brown 0-0 0-0 0, Pytlowany 3-8 0-0 7, Fink 2-2 1-2 5, Stark 6-17 6-9 21, Sinn 2-4 0-0 4, Knopp 0-2 0-0 0, Davenport 0-1 0-0 0, Olin 0-0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 14-37 8-13 41.

Parsons.................. 8 12 9 5 -- 34

Fort Scott................ 15 10 6 10 -- 41

Three-point field goals: Parsons 4-7 (Hays 3-3, Beachner 1-4), Fort Scott 5-12 (Stark 3-5, DeLaTorre 1-2, Pytlowany 1-4, Knopp 0-1).

Total fouls: Parsons 19, Fort Scott 12. Fouled out: Williamson. Technical foul: Williamson.

Rebounds: Parsons 20 (C.Taylor 5), Fort Scott 19 (Sinn 5). Assists: Parsons 5 (Dickinson 2), Fort Scott 7 (Stark 3). Turnovers: Parsons 15, Fort Scott 6. Steals: Parsons 4 (Hays 2, C.Taylor 2). Blocked shots: Parsons 1 (I.Taylor), Fort Scott none.