Dragons rally in second half

Wednesday, December 5, 2007
Fort Scott's Jeff Johnson (34) and Pittsburg's Travis Casey fight for a loose ball during the first half of play in Pittsburg Tuesday night. (Captured Images/Kenny Felt)

PITTSBURG -- If there were only 16 minutes in a basketball game, Fort Scott's boys would have had a convincing victory here Tuesday night.

But basketball games have four eight-minute quarters and rival Pittsburg played much better in the second half than the first half as it won a Southeast Kansas League battle, 52-44.

The Tigers, 2-2, seemed to have everything going their way, particularly on defense. They had held the Purple Dragons to five-of-16 field-goal shooting while building a 19-11 lead that seemed as if it could only get bigger in the second half.

But the Dragons shot much better in the third quarter and also increased their pressure on defense, leading to uncharacteristic mistakes by the Tigers.

Pittsburg took the lead for the first time in the game with 50 seconds remaining in the third quarter when Alex O'Nelio hit a three-point shot. That put them up 32-31 going into the final stanza.

The Dragons made seven of 14 fielders in the period while turning the ball over just once. They had turned it over eight times in the first half.

"We felt pretty good with where we were (at halftime)," Fort Scott head coach Jeff DeLaTorre said. "We felt like we matched up well with them and we felt very good with where we were at halftime. But they came out and made some shots.

"The thing that bothers me is that we made too many mistakes. When they got their man pressure going, pressing us and stuff, we kind of panicked a little bit and just never really got in sync for a stretch. We have to find the right mix who can take that situation in the game and get through it and continue to build the lead."

The Tigers continued to fight and Alex Barner scored the first five points of the period to put his team up 36-32 with 6:55 remaining in the game.

But the Dragons scored nine of the next 11 with two O'Nelio free throws making it 41-38 with four minutes to go.

Barner, who scored 10 of the Tigers' 13 points in the fourth quarter, connected on a fadeaway jumper with 2:40 to go to bring Fort Scott within 43-41. But the Tigers were in that situation where they had to start fouling in order to save time. The Dragons made nine of 12 charity tosses down the stretch to keep the Tigers at bay.

"You have to make things happen but we just kind of sat back and they were attacking us," DeLaTorre said. "And that's why we didn't get some breaks. In that type of situation, we have to be the ones making things happen and making plays and we weren't able to do that tonight."

Fort Scott turned the ball over 19 times to just 11 for Pittsburg. The Dragons committed just three turnovers in the second half.

Otherwise, the game statistics show the Tigers were at least the equal of the Dragons. Fort Scott shot 39 percent from the field on 17 of 43 while Pittsburg was only 31 percent overall on 15 of 49 even with its good shooting in the third.

Rebounds were equal at 34-34. Free throws were not -- Pittsburg went 18 of 23 at the line with all of its attempts coming in the second half while Fort Scott was seven of 14 -- but that includes the free throws the Dragons made late in the game, which were the result of the Tigers' need to stop the clock.

"My job is to try to figure out what we did wrong and to fix the mistakes we made," DeLaTorre said. "And we made a lot of them. They deserved to win the game because they made fewer mistakes. We have to find a way to correct these things."

Barner scored 16 points and had 15 rebounds for the Tigers. Tony Karleskint followed with 14 points.

Sean Stotler led the Dragons with 18 points and 12 rebounds. C.J. Fondren added 11 points.

The Tigers host Labette County in their first home game Friday night. The Grizzlies beat Iola 64-47 in their season opener Tuesday night.

JUNIOR VARSITY -- The Tigers defeated Pittsburg, 67-59, in overtime, rallying from a 21-10 first-quarter deficit to do so.

Mikey Karleskint and Gary Floyd scored 18 points each for Fort Scott while Brian Gorman added 12 points.

FORT SCOTT: Leek 1-6 0-0 3, M.Karleskint 0-0 0-0 0, Clements 0-1 0-0 0, T.Karleskint 6-11 2-6 14, Wheeler 2-4 0-0 6, Floyd 1-2 0-0 2, Messer 0-1 1-2 1, Johnson 0-3 0-0 0, Allen 1-1 0-0 2, Barner 6-13 4-6 16. TOTALS: 17-43 7-14 44.

PITTSBURG: Bell 0-1 0-0 0, Casey 0-1 0-0 0, Ross 0-0 0-0 0, Wilson 1-6 1-2 4, O'Nelio 1-3 5-6 8, Browne 2-5 0-0 4, Stotler 6-15 5-7 18, Crowley 2-10 3-4 7, Fondren 3-9 4-4 11. TOTALS: 15-49 18-23.

Fort Scott.............. 8 11 12 13 -- 44

Pittsburg............... 5 6 21 20 -- 52

Three-point field goals: Fort Scott 3-11 (Wheeler 2-3, Leek 1-6, Clements 0-1, T.Karleskint 0-1), Pittsburg 4-15 (O'Nelio 1-3, Fondren 1-3, Stotler 1-4, Wilson 1-5).

Total fouls: Fort Scott 21, Pittsburg 16. Fouled out: T.Karleskint. Technical foul: none.

Rebounds: Fort Scott 34 (Barner 15), Pittsburg 34 (Stotler 12). Assists: Fort Scott 9 (Messer 2, Barner 2), Pittsburg 6 (O'Nelio 3). Turnovers: Fort Scott 19, Pittsburg 11. Steals: Fort Scott 6 (Leek 2, Clements 2), Pittsburg 10 (Fondren 4). Blocked shots: Fort Scott 2 (T.Karleskint, Barner, Pittsburg 1 (Wilson).