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'Hound men climb into tie for 1st
Fort Scott Community College's men broke a nine-game losing streak against Kansas City Kansas Monday night as the Greyhounds climbed into a three-way tie for first place in Jayhawk Conference-Eastern Division II with Highland and Johnson County with an 84-74 victory.
A 17-2 run which began with about seven minutes to go broke open a close game and put the Greyhounds up 78-63 with 3:53 remaining in the contest.
It was also Prince Samuels' first game back since suffering an injury during the holiday break. He last played in a game at Neosho County on December 9.
One of the big contributors was Kevin House, who led Fort Scott with 25 points by going 17 of 18 at the free-throw line.
"The way the rules are now, I told him that being a fast guard now helps you," Fort Scott head coach Michael Cook said of House's night. "You get a bunch of free throws and your scoring goes up. He didn't get many shots off but I told him all he had to do was push it. Then he also found his teammates. Getting nine assists was a great thing, too."
Mabor Gabriel, had a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds, and Dalton Rose made eight 3-point shots on his way to a 24-point night as he played his most minutes in a game in about a month.
"(Rose) was shooting the ball well on the scout team," Cook said. "And his shot had been off for a while. Coach Hays and I said, 'Let's give him a shot and see what happens.' Between him and Jacob Stroman, whoever's hitting is going to be the one playing, and tonight it was Dalton."
And while Fort Scott (2-1 division, 8-15 overall) is now tied with Highland (13-12) and Johnson County (7-18), they're still only in the fifth position among the six teams in Region VI Division II. Brown Mackie (4-1 region, 15-10 overall) is on top followed by Highland (3-2 region), Hesston (3-2, 8-16) and Johnson County (3-2 region). The top two teams in Division II play get first-round byes in the post-season tournament. The third- and fourth-seeded teams get home-court advantage in the first round.
Wednesday night, the 'Hounds will go on the road to face Highland, which they beat in the first meeting at Arnold Arena on January 22 by four points. Saturday, Fort Scott will host Brown Mackie, which won the first meeting in Salina on January 25.
"We need to go to Highland with the purpose of playing better than we did here," Cook said. "Then Brown Mackie comes in and we owe them a little something. We were up 9 points up there and they came back and won. They're playing well and Highland's playing well."
Fort Scott lead 19-7 with 13:30 left in the first half. Kansas City (0-3 division, 0-5 region, 6-19 overall) scored the next 10 points to get within two. The Blue Devils led four times in the last seven minutes but Will Harrington's free throws with 2.5 seconds left gave the 'Hounds a 41-39 lead.
Fort Scott's lead was 50-44 after Rose hit a 3-pointer from the left side with 14:55 to go. But Kansas City was able to answer and tied the score at 61-61 on a Willis Garner, Jr., 3-pointer with 7:47 left.
Rose hit a 3-point shot as time ran out on the shot clock to begin Fort Scott's run. House hit 6 of 6 free throws during that stretch and Samuels scored 5 points, his first points in about two months.
Lucas Smith led Kansas City with 20 points with Garner, Marcus Allen and Anthony Ridley all scoring 11 and Stephan Leimbach adding 10.
Wednesday night's game tips off at 8 p.m. at Highland.
KANSAS CITY: Leimbach 4-10 0-0 10, Ridley 5-12 0-0 11, Collins 0-0 0-0 0, Young 2-8 0-0 5, Smith 5-11 10-14 20, Adney 2-3 0-0 6, Garner 4-8 0-0 11, Allen 4-8 2-2 11, Armstrong 0-1 0-0 0. TOTALS: 26-60 12-16 74.
FORT SCOTT: House 4-10 17-18 25, Harringotn 2-2 5-5 9, Rowe 1-4 0-0 3, Hall 2-5 0-0 5, Gabriel 4-8 2-4 10, Johnson 0-0 0-0 0, Samuels 2-4 4-6 8, Rose 8-15 0-0 24. TOTALS: 23-48 28-33 84.
Halftime: Fort Scott, 41-39.
Three-point field goals: Kansas City 10-25 (Garner 3-6, Adney 2-2, Leimbach 2-7, Allen 1-1, Ridley 1-3, Young 1-3, Armstrong 0-1, Smith 0-2), Fort Scott 10-21 (Rose 8-14, Rowe 1-3, Hall 1-3, House 0-1).
Total fouls: Kansas City 24, Fort Scott 14. Fouled out: None.
Rebounds: Kansas City 24 (Ridley 5), Fort Scott 37 (Gabriel 10) Assists: Kansas City 16 (Ridley 10), Fort Scott 14 (House 9). Turnovers: Kansas City 6, Fort Scott 8. Steals: Kansas City 3 (Ridley 2), Fort Scott 1 (House). Blocked shots: Kansas City 3 (Young 2), Fort Scott 3 (Gabriel 2).