Tiger boys beat LCHS

ALTAMONT -- Fort Scott High's boys broke a two-game losing streak here Thursday night and may have recaptured some momentum going into Monday night's first-round Sub-State match-up with Louisburg.

The Tigers defeated Labette County, 70-62, in the regular-season finale behind the personal-best scoring nights of Cody Harper and Daniel Durbin.

Harper hit six 3-point shots on his way to finishing with 26 points, which bested his previous high of 17 he set last Friday against Columbus. Durbin chipped in with 11 points, his first double-digit scoring game at the varsity level.

The Tigers (4-4 Southeast Kansas League, 11-9 overall) shot 68 percent from the field, making 25 of 37 field-goal attempts. They also made 14 of 16 free throws.

Labette County (4-4, 9-10) saw just five players score -- the Grizzlies used only six until the final minute of play -- led by Cole Traxson's 18. Trevor Nash followed with 17, Mitchell Smith with 14 and Keaton Turner with 11.

LCHS jumped out to a 10-5 lead early in the first quarter. But Harper hit the first of his triples to help rally Fort Scott back to an 11-11 tie by the end of the period.

Harper also scored an inside basket off a pass from Jaret Thorpe and another trey to start the second quarter. Another triple made it 19-15 and allowed the Tigers to start going inside. Griffin Knopp, then Durbin, scored Fort Scott's points for the remainder of the period as the lead stretched to 30-22.

Fort Scott scored the first 8 points of the third quarter -- one basket each by Matt Wright, Harper, Thorpe and Cameron Woodring -- to make it 38-22.

But then LCHS responded by scoring 10 straight points to get within 6. Fort Scott ended the period on a 8-3 run to go into the fourth quarter with a 46-35 lead.

The Grizzlies did their best to get back into the game, launching 26 field-goal attempts. But each time they scored, the Tigers answered to prevent Labette County from getting closer than 8 points.

The Tigers will go into the Paola Class 4A Sub-State Tournament as the No. 4 seed and will host No. 5 Louisburg at 7 p.m. Monday night in the FSHS gymnasium. The Wildcats (9-10) finish up the regular season Friday night with a home Pioneer League contest versus Paola.

The rest of the first round:

* No. 8 Iola (1-19) will travel to top-seeded Ottawa (16-3). Iola lost to Independence, 41-30, Thursday night. Ottawa hosts Spring Hill tonight.

* No. 7 Prairie View (4-15) goes to No. 2 Osawatomie (13-5). The teams also happen to be playing tonight at Prairie View. Osawatomie had a make-up game with Archie (Mo.) Thursday night as well.

* No. 6 Anderson County (7-13) will visit Paola (12-7).

NOTES -- Parsons defeated Coffeyville, 83-63, Thursday night to clinch its first Southeast Kansas League title since 1992. This is the 29th league crown for the Vikings (7-1, 17-3), the most by far. Coffeyville is second with 17 championships....

FORT SCOTT: Stark 2 5-6 9, Quick 0 0-0 0, Thorpe 1 0-0 2, Wright 3 3-4 9, Woodring 1 2-2 4, Knopp 4 1-1 9, Harper 9 2-2 26, Rienbolt 0 0-0 0, Durbin 5 1-1 11. TOTALS: 25-37 14-16 70.

LABETTE COUNTY: Turner 5 1-2 11, Traxson 5 8-10 18, Smith 5 2-2 14, Dodsworth 1 0-1 2, Nash 7 2-2 17, Thompson 0 0-0 0, Charles 0 0-0 0, Swanwick 0 0-0 0, Stice 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 23-52 13-17 62.

Labette County. 11 11 13 27 -- 62

Three-point field goals: Fort Scott 6-10 (Harper 6), Labette County 3-6 (Smith 2, Nash).

Total fouls: Fort Scott 15, Labette County 27. Fouled out: Turner, Smith.

Rebounds: Fort Scott 18, Labette County 24. Turnovers: Fort Scott 13, Labette County 11.