Tigers second at Frontenac as Pacific rolls

Fort Scott's Kaleb DeLaTorre (3) drives in for a layup during the first half of play at Frontenac Saturday night as teammates Mason Knopp (30) and Alex Finl (22) look on. The Tigers fell to Pacific, Mo., 55-31, in the championship game of the Kansas Army National Guard Tournament and finished in second place. (Brian Wade/Special to the Tribune)

FRONTENAC -- Fort Scott High's boys held the lead briefly in the championship game of the Kansas Army National Guard Invitational here Saturday night. But Pacific's Cullen VanLeer sparked his team to an 11-0 run midway through the quarter and the Indians never looked back in a 55-31 victory.

The fifth-seeded Tigers (7-4) led 6-2 with a little over three minutes gone off the clock as Alex Fink stuck back his own missed shot to end that opening run.

VanLeer, a 6' 4" senior who has signed with Missouri and was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player, drive for the first basket of the Indians' run and hit a 3-pointer for the second. His teammates chipped in during the run, which made it 13-6 before Kaleb DeLaTorre drove in for a layup with two seconds left in the period to bring the Tigers within 5 points.

Pacific (12-3) didn't pull away in the second quarter. They scored the first 4 points but two free throws by DeLaTorre and a 3-point play by Mason Knopp brought Fort Scott within 17-13 with 6:09 to go.

VanLeer scored back-to-back baskets. Alex Fink hit a jumper for the Tigers to bring them within 21-15 with 3:26 left.

Noah Boyer scored off a VanLeer assist for Pacific. Then Fink stuck back his own missed shot and was fouled on the play. He converted the 3-point play to cut the Tigers' deficit to 23-18 with 1:20 left in the half. Boyer took another VanLeer pass and hit a 3-point shot for Pacific to cap the scoring for the half.

We knew what we were going to get with the VanLeer kid," Fort Scott head coach Jeff DeLaTorre said. "He's averaging about 28 points a game, somewhere in that area. We also felt like he's one of the best passers we've seen. We wanted to to help off him and control him. But he did a great job of finding people."

A 14-0 run midway through the third quarter made it 47-23 and gave Pacific control of the game. VanLeer hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key to close out the third, making it 50-25.

"They're a good team that played very well tonight," DeLaTorre said. "They did a lot of good things. It was a solid effort from them. We felt like we were still in the game at halftime but we couldn't catch any breaks in the second half."

VanLeer finished with 22 points and 11 rebounds for Pacific and Boyer added 14. Knopp led the Tigers with 8 points.

Fort Scott plays Coffeyville for Homecoming Friday night at 7:30.

NOTES -- Wyatt Reel won the boys' 3-point shooting contest, making 9 shots in 45 seconds. Trent Phelps of Prairie View was second with 7 makes....

Jake Bradbury finished second in the hot-shot shooting contest with 22 points in 45 seconds. Riverton's Gavin Forbes won the contest with 23 points....

Riverton defeated Nevada in the third-place game, 61-41.Winfield, which the Tigers defeated in the first round Thursday, finished fifth with a 67-62 win over Wichita Independent. And top-seeded Prairie View won the seventh-place game over Frontenac, 63-61...

Fink, VanLeer, Riverton's Grant North, Winfield's Will Adler and Independent's Chris Taylor were named to the All-Tournament Team....

(5) FORT SCOTT: DeLaTorre 2-6 2-2 6, Smith 0-2 0-0 0, Brown 1-4 0-2 2, Bradbury 1-9 0-0 3, Fink 3-10 1-1 7, Knopp 3-5 2-5 8, Martin 0-0 1-2 1, Reehl 1-4 0-0 2, Labbe 0-1 2-4 2. TOTALS: 11-41 8-16 31.

(3) PACIFIC, Mo.: Ca.VanLeer 2-4 0-1 4, Klenke 3-7 0-0 7, Hardcastle 0-0 0-0 0, Vandaveer 2-2 0-0 4, Moore 1-2 0-0 2, Boyer 6-10 1-2 14, Gabriel 0-0 0-0 0, Brocato 0-0 0-0 0, Cu.VanLeer 7-13 4-4 22, Watson 1-2 0-0 2. TOTALS: 22-50 5-7 55.

Pacific...................... 13 13 24 5 -- 55

Three-point field goals: Fort Scott 1-17 (Bradbury 1-6, Smith 0-1, Brown 0-1, Knopp 0-1, Fink 0-2, DeLaTorre 0-3), Pacific 6-15 (Cu.VanLeer 4-9, Boyer 1-1, Klenke 1-4, Ca.VanLeer 0-1).

Total fouls: Fort Scott 7, Pacific 16. Fouled out: Bradbury, Mosburg.

Rebounds: Fort Scott 24 (Fink 5, Knopp 5), Pacific 30 (Cu.VanLeer 11). Assists: Fort Scott 4 (Fink 2), Pacific 9 (Cu.VanLeer 4). Turnovers: Fort Scott 7, Pacific 8. Steals: Fort Scott 5 (5 with 1 each), Pacific 4 (4 with 1 each). Blocked shots: Fort Scott none. Pacific 3 (Cu.VanLeer 2).