Nado-Tiger games cancelled

Fort Scott High School's basketball games with Coffeyville, set for tonight after being postponed Thursday due to weather, have been cancelled, according to an announcement by FSHS athletic director Larry Fink this morning.

Every game in the Southeast Kansas League was postponed Thursday as none of the league's schools held school. Fort Scott did not have school again today and the school district has a policy that does not allow extracurricular activities to be held when there is no school.

The other three SEK doubleheaders are Independence at Chanute, Labette County at Parsons and Pittsburg at Iola.

The decision not to play the Coffeyville-Fort Scott games will have a direct affect on the boys' championship race. Coffeyville is the leader but Pittsburg had a chance to force a tie with a victory over Iola and a Fort Scott win over Coffeyville.

Iola A.D. Martin Bambick told the Iola Register Thursday that Iola would try to get the games in even if it meant playing on Saturday.

However, since Coffeyville can't lose a game that's not being played, the Golden Tornado will be the league champion.

A similar situation exists on the girls' side where Labette County is the SEK leader with Fort Scott in position to forge a tie had it beaten Coffeyville and Parsons upset LCHS. But now the outcome of the LCHS-Parsons game doesn't matter since the Grizzlies would have one more league victory than the Tigers no matter what happens.

Fort Scott's boys are currently tied for third place with Chanute. If Chanute and Independence play tonight and the Blue Comets win, Chanute would move into third place by itself because it would have one more league win. But if the Comets lost, the Tigers would be third by themselves because they would have one less loss.

Also on the boys' side, Independence and Labette County are currently tied for fifth and Parsons and Iola are tied for seventh. The various combinations of which teams play and which don't will be crucial in breaking these ties.

The only tie on the girls' side is between Parsons and Coffeyville for seventh place. However, Chanute is one game ahead of those two in sixth and Pittsburg is one game behind them. In addition, Chanute is one game behind Independence.

No matter who plays and who wins, Iola's girls will be third and Columbus' will be fourth.

UPDATE: At about 11 a.m. this morning, Independence and Chanute decided to call off tonight's games. It was not certain if the games will be played Saturday.