Tiger boys crush Girard, 55-18

Fort Scott junior Mason Knopp (30) fights for a rebound with Girard's Kross Hamblin (32) and Devin Alters during the first half of play as teammate Jack Olin looks to help out during the first half of play at the FSHS gymnasium Thursday night. Knopp scored 10 points grabbed a team-high 9 rebounds in the Tigers' 55-18 victory. (Kenny Felt/Special to the Tribune)

Editor's Note: This summary corrects a misstatement in the first sentence of the third paragraph.

It took a about a quarter and a half for Fort Scott High's offense to get going Thursday night. But the defense more than compensated and then kept hammering visiting Girard once things got clicking.

Once things were said and done, the Tigers had held an opponent to less than 20 points for just the second time since 1954. Final score: Fort Scott 55, Girard 18.

Makes it tough to believe the score was tied 4-4 after one. And that was only after Kaleb DeLaTorre tied it for the Tigers (3-5) with a turnaround jumper at the end of the quarter.

"(W)e talk about when you're struggling with your offense, you can build with your defense," Fort Scott head coach Jeff DeLaTorre said. "And I thought we made some things happen there. (The offense) got going in the second quarter and the defense stayed consistent. We were able to continue to guard them, get some stops and keep their scorers down."

Jack Olin scored 7 straight points midway through the second, which helped kick start Fort Scott's offense. That was the beginning of a 16-1 run that put the Tigers ahead 22-9 with 1:55 left in the first half.

"It was a weird start to the game," DeLaTorre said. "There was no rhythm. They called a lot of hand checks and you have to feel those things out. It wasn't one-sided, though. They were calling it on everybody."

It was 24-12 at the half. The Tigers scored the first 6 of the second half and the last 6 of the third quarter to extend the lead to 45-16.

Girard (3-4) made just 5 of 39 field-goal attempts (13 percent) and wasn't credited with an assist. Austin O'Dell was the Trojans leading scorer with 6 points and only four Trojans scored a field goal.

Girard isn't as bad as this score would seem to indicate. The Tigers expected to be challenged by a team that had played tough against bigger schools.

"This is a team that took Labette County to double overtime and was very close to beating Chanute," DeLaTorre said. "They've done some good things and they were kind of on a roll coming in and playing with confidence."

Olin led the Tigers in scoring with 15 points on 6-of-8 field-goal shooting as Girard didn't have anyone who matched up against the 6-foot-10 senior in the post. Mason Knopp added 10 points and led with 9 rebounds.

Ten players scored for the Tigers and 12 had at least one rebound. Fort Scott shot 50 percent from the field on 21 of 42, outrebounded Girard, 38-27, and committed just 5 turnovers.

Next up for Fort Scott is Riverton in the first round of the Frontenac Raider Kansas Army National Guard Tournament at 5:30 p.m. next Thursday. The Rams (5-0) are the top seed.

"We know they're a good team," DeLaTorre said "We saw them in the summer and last year (Frontenac's) tournament. But getting a week off is good. We'll play three games in three days, so it's good to get some time off before it."

NOTES -- The other time a Fort Scott team held an opponent to fewer than 20 points was on Feb. 17, 2012, when the Tigers beat Columbus, 71-13....

More information about the Frontenac tournament will be published in Saturday's edition....

GIRARD: Alters 1-2 0-0 2, Bailey 0-2 2-2 2, Stout 0-1 0-0 0, Damman 0-7 1-4 1, Eaton 0-1 0-0 0, Davied 0-13 0-0 0, Wilson 0-2 0-0 0, Green 1-3 1-2 3, Hamblin 2-5 0-2 4, Morrison 0-0 0-0 0, O'Dell 1-3 4-4 6. TOTALS: 5-39 8-14 18.

FORT SCOTT: DeLaTorre 3-8 0-0 7, Horn 1-1 2-2 4, Brown 1-3 0-2 2, Hudiburg 0-0 1-2 1, Pytlowany 0-4 0-0 0, Bradbury 0-1 1-2 1, Fink 2-5 0-0 4, Sinn 2-4 1-2 5, Knopp 3-5 3-5 10, Labbe 3-3 0-0 6, Reehl 0-0 0-0 0, Olin 6-8 3-5 15. TOTALS: 21-42 11-20 55.

Fort Scott........ 4 20 21 10 -- 55

Three-point field goals: Girard 0-11 (Wilson 0-1, Damman 0-5, Davied 0-5), Fort Scott 2-11 (Knopp 1-2, DeLaTorre 1-5, Bradbury 0-1, Fink 0-1, Pytlowany 0-2).

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

Rebounds: Girard 27 (O'Dell 8), Fort Scott 38 (Knopp 9). Assists: Girard none, Fort Scott 12 (DeLaTorre 3). Turnovers: Girard 10, Fort Scott 5. Steals: Girard 3 (3 with 1 each), Fort Scott 7 (7 with 1 each). Blocked shots: Girard 2 (O'Dell), Fort Scott 3 (Olin 2).