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Defense triggers offense for Tigers
Fort Scott High's offense wasn't clicking for a while during its Southeast Kansas League game against Labette County at the FSHS gymnasium. So the Tigers turned to their defense and rode it until the offense broke out in the fourth quarter of a 62-44 victory.
Fort Scott, 2-0 in the SEK and 10-4 overall, trailed 14-8 after one period. But the Tigers held the Grizzlies to one field-goal attempt (that's one attempt) in the first 5 1-2 minutes of the second. During that stretch, Fort Scott scored eight unanswered to points to take a lead it never surrendered.
"That's a great tribune to them and how hard they work," Fort Scott head coach Jeff DeLaTorre said of a defensive effort that allowed five total points on one-of-five shooting in the second period. "We've done that the last couple of games. The bad side of that is that we've gotten behind in the first quarter of both those games and we've had to crank up the defense to get us. As a coach, it would be nice to come out and do that from the beginning and that way we don't have to worry about coming from behind."
Labette County, 0-1, 4-9, didn't go gently into that good night. The Grizzlies got as close as 31-30 with 3:05 left in the third period. After three, they were still within 41-36.
But the Tigers blew the game open in the first 3 1/2 minutes of the fourth. Zack Smith, who went into the fourth with just five points on two-of-nine field-goal shooting, scored eight in a row as part of an 11-1 run that opened the period. Meanwhile, the defense held Labette County's starters without a field goal in the period on 0 of 6 shooting. The Grizzlies' first fielder of the period, scored by reserve Jordan Lambkins, came with 1:13 remaining in the game.
"We've improved a lot defensively in the last couple of weeks," DeLaTorre said. "That was a concern but now we're playing better on that end. Shooting may go into a slump but if you play good defense, you can work though that and that's what we did tonight."
Smith finished with a game-high 15 points as he scored 10 in the fourth. He made three of four shots from the field, including two three pointers and the finish on an alley-oop-type play during his run.
"Zach's a very capable shooter, the kind who can get hot at any time," DeLaTorre said. "Early in the game, he was frustrated with how he was shooting but he stuck with it. But what I'm impressed with what Zach has done is he hasn't let a slump affect his defense. He plays well on that end and stays in the flow of the game that way."
Zach Quick and Kevin Gray each added 13 points for the Tigers as they combined to make nine of 13 shots from the field and eight of nine free throws. Jacob Bierbrodt was Labette County's only double-figure scorer with 13 points.
Fort Scott shot 45 percent as a team, making 20 of 44 field-goal attempts. The Tigers went eight for 13 in the fourth. LCHS made only 16 of 42 fielders for 38 percent.
Rebounds were even at 27-27, sophomore Alex Barner led the Tigers with six boards and also capped the game with a breakaway dunk just before the final horn sounded.
"I had a feeling he was going to try it," DeLaTorre said. "I'm not sure the last time when we had a dunk in a Fort Scott game. It may have been the Lancasters five or six years ago. I was happy for Alex. The kid works hard and he's learning a lot. He's getting better and better by the day. He did a good job tonight before that. He came in and got some rebounds. He came off the bench and really helped us."
Fort Scott had eight turnovers to Labette County's 12. The Grizzlies had just one steal in the game. The Tigers also dished 13 assists, with Quick dealing five.
JUNIOR VARSITY -- Labette County won the JV game, 54-50. Barner had 12 points for the Tigers while Drew Messer and Matt Wheeler each had eight.
Fort Scott travels to Independence Friday night to take on the Bulldogs in SEK action.