Panthers rally, hold off Greyhound men

CHANUTE -- There are little things a young Fort Scott Community College men's basketball team has to learn as they figure out what it takes to win in the Jayhawk Conference-Eastern Division.

Saturday night, the lesson learned in a 60-56 loss to Neosho County here, according to head coach Mike Cook, was to keep executing the game plan the entire game.

"We had a game plan, which was to slow it down and execute," Cook said. "And when we do that, we're in the game. We get out of sync -- I say it every week -- and we have five-minute spurts where we're not doing what we're supposed to do and they take the lead and we lose momentum. We try to fight back but it wears you down trying to fight back every time."

The Greyhounds, who lost their fourth consecutive game, led most of the first half took a 31-25 lead into the locker room after Conrad Brown hit a three-point shot from the left side with 1:33 left.

But Neosho County (2-3 East, 9-7 overall) stormed out of the locker room, scoring the first eight points to go up 33-31. Then the 'Hounds scored eight of the next 10 only to see the Panthers hold them scoreless for over five minutes.

Despite the drought, when Kolbe Joens finally got Fort Scott back on the board with a three-point shot with 5:13 left in the game, the Greyhounds trailed only 44-42.

"We didn't score but we played tough defense and limited second shots at crucial times," Cook said. "We gave up a lot of rebounds but at crucial times, we blocked out. We have to find a way to get the ball in the basket during those times. We can't have five-, six-, seven-minute droughts."

Antoine Lundy's stickback put the Panthers up 47-42 with 3:40 to go. Then neither team scored a field goal for two minutes until Mark Gomilla put in two for the Panthers wit 1:14 to go to make it 51-47.

The 'Hounds just would not go away. Darrell Blanton's layup closed the deficit to two. Then Ramell Taylor drove for a layup with 39 seconds left to bring the 'Hounds within 52-51.

Fort Scott even got the lead down to two twice in the last seven seconds -- Zack Wilson's three with seven to go cut it to 56-54 and two Blanton free throws made it 58-56 with 4.9 seconds left.

But the Panthers made all six of their free throws in the final 15 seconds, including the clinchers by Lundy with 3.8 seconds to go.

Blanton led all scorers with 18 points while Kurklin Bohanon led added 13 points, all of which came in the first half.

Antonio Banks led Neosho County with 12 points. Delray Mills and D'Andre Tomlin added 11 each.

The Greyhounds will host Allen County Wednesday night at 6 p.m. at Arnold Arena in another conference battle.

FORT SCOTT: Joens 2-7 1-1 7, Bohanon 5-11 0-0 13, Kemp 0-2 1-2 1, Dougherty 0-3 0-0 0, Wilson 2-2 0-0 6, Taylor 2-6 2-4 6, Kellogg 1-1 0-0 2, Gantt 0-1 0-0 0, Brown 1-1 0-0 3, Blanton 5-13 8-11 18, Brooks 0-2 0-0 0. 18-49 12-18 56.

NEOSHO COUNTY:Fairman 3-7 3-4 9, Tomlin 3-6 5-8 11, Banks 4-9 3-4 12, Sims 0-7 0-0 0, Avant 0-0 0-0 0, Gomilla 2-7 4-4 8, Mills 4-12 3-4 11, Rhine 0-1 0-0 0, Lundy 3-9 3-3 9. TOTALS: 19-58 21-27 60.

Halftime: Fort Scott, 31-25.

Three-point field goals: Fort Scott 8-22 (Bohanon 3-9, Wilson 2-2, Joens 2-7, Brown 1-1, Kemp 0-1, Dougherty 0-2), Neosho County 1-16 (Banks 1-4, Fairman 0-1, Gomilla 0-2, Mills 0-1, Rhine 0-1, Lundy 0-2, Sims 0-6).

Total fouls: Fort Scott 18, Neosho County 16. Fouled out: Taylor.

Rebounds: Fort Scott 33 (Kemp 9), Neosho County 45 (Lundy 11). Assists: Fort Scott 12 (Kemp 6), Neosho County 8 (Fairman, Lundy 2 each). Turnovers: Fort Scott 20, Neosho County 14. Steals: Fort Scott 9 (Bohanon, Blanton, Brooks 2 each), Neosho County 7 (Banks, Lundy 2 each). Blocked shots: Fort Scott 1 (Blanton), Neosho County 3 (Fairman, Mills, Lundy).