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'Hounds beat KCK; Hesston upsets Johnson
The worst-case scenario for Fort Scott Community College's men Wednesday night was that they'd lose to Kansas City Kansas, Johnson County would beat Hesston, and the Greyhounds would settle for the No. 2 seed in the Region VI-Division II post-season tournament. They'd still have a bye and a home game on Tuesday night.
What happened instead was the absolute best-case scenario. The Greyhounds took care of business by beating KCK 83-75 in Jayhawk Conference-Division II play at Arnold Arena.
Then, just before the first player stepped up to the tape recorder after the game, this came from the stands:
"Hesston is beating Johnson County in overtime!"
The Larks went on to win 100-93, handing Johnson County its third loss in its last four games. Ironically, the one win in those four games was over Fort Scott at Overland Park last Saturday.
More than that, it allowed the Greyhounds to take the No. 1 seed in the tournament and gave them a share of the KJCCC-Division II championship with the Cavaliers. Technically, the 'Hounds were the defending champions of the division, which was created in 2013-14, dissolved last season and put back into place this season.
After going without a division title for 45 years, Fort Scott has won at least a share of its second in the past three seasons.
"It feels good," sophomore wing Jeremiah Fleming, the national Division II leader in 3-point shots made (126 following Wednesday game), said. "We were going for No. 1 or 2 but it feels nice to get the first round at home."
The Greyhounds (6-2 conference, 9-3 region, 14-16 overall) get a first-round bye -- as does Johnson County (6-2, 8-4, 25-5) -- and await the winner of Saturday's first-round game between independents Hesston (6-6 region, 18-11 overall) and Brown Mackie (7-5, 16-14) to be played at Salina. Kansas City (4-4, 7-5, 19-11) won a coin toss to break a tie in region standings and will host sixth-seeded Highland on Saturday. Labette, as the seventh-place team in the region, did not qualify for the playoffs.
Fort Scott will play the Hesston-Brown Mackie winner at a time to be determined Tuesday night in Arnold Arena. Johnson County will host the Highland-KCK winner. Tuesday's winners meet for the region championship at 3 p.m. Thursday, March 3 at Hartman Arena in Park City, which is just north of Wichita.
After that, perhaps a second trip in three seasons to the national tournament in Danville, Ill.
"We're trying to get to nationals and win it all," sophomore guard Eddie Sims said of the long road that begins at home Tuesday. "We play pretty good at home. We pretty much know everybody."
Fort Scott held a 16-8 lead five minutes into the game as Fleming hit three of his five 3-pointers in the gane during the run. But Kansas City caught up on a 3-point goal by Armoni Shorter and a layup by Joe Lendway.
Fort Scott scored the next 9, capped by an Evan Brull 3-pointer with 11:40 to go, making it 25-13.
The Greyhounds continued to take it to the Blue Devils, scoring 11 of the next 12. Four of those points came from post John Freeman at the end of the run as he was open for layups after the defense went to guard the player driving through the lane.
Another Fleming triple later in the period made it 39-20 before Lendway answered with a 3-pointer of his own with 2:04 to go.
After the high pace early on, nobody scored in the final 2:04 of the half. Bur for most of the half, the Greyhounds' perfered formula of intense defense leading to quick scores in transition was working well.
"Coach (Michael Cook) preaches that before every game to put teams away early because there's not very many teams that can really play with us," Fleming said. "We can't go out and play around so we have to take care of teams early."
Fort Scott kept the momentum going early in the second half, getting the lead up to 20 with 13:57 to go after back-to-back baskets by Freeman, a freshman on his way to a personal-best night, made it 55-35 with 13:57 to go.
Fort Scott had made 5 of its first 6 field-goal attempts of the half. But the 'Hounds went into a slump after that and endured a 2-for-12 stretch as Kansas City began to catch up.
Shorter hit a 3-pointer with 5:25 to go to spark a 11-2 run that cut the Greyhounds' lead to 70-65 with 3:15 to go.
This was something that happens to the 'Hounds sometimes, although it was a more prominent issue earlier in the season than recently -- that seven minutes or so after getting the lead up to something that should be insurmountable but instead, the opponent creeps back into it.
"We got comfortable, really," sophomore Tyler Owens said, "so we just listened to what coach had to say and just followed the game plan, pretty much."
Sims made two free throws with 2:35 left. Then Dametrious Walker took a steal in for a layup. Moments later, Sims made a pair of technical free throws after KCK head coach Kelley Newton got whistled. Those made it 76-65 with 1:48 to go.
From that point on, the teams traded scores. A few free throws and a couple of Freeman baskets got the 'Hounds through.
Sims finished with 20 points for Fort Scott while Walker added 19 and also had 6 rebounds, 7 assists and 3 steals. Fleming scored 15 points and Freeman finished with 14 and 6 boards.
Shorter and Kellan Turner each scored 19 points for Kansas City. Lendway chipped in with 15.
Fort Scott made half of its shots on the night, going 22 for 44. The 'Hounds also made 30 of 36 free throws as they remained unbeaten (8-0) in games in which they've made at least 20 charity tosses. Fort Scott is 65 of 78 at the line in its last two games after making 35 of 42 in Monday's win at Labette.
Kansas City shot 45 percent from the field on 28 of 62 but went to the free-throw line just 9 times, making 6. The Blue Devils also committed 17 turnovers.
And the Greyhounds continue to win even as they get outrebounded almost every time out. Kansas City won the battle of the boards 37-25. Fort Scott has finished with 30 or fewer rebounds in 10 of 14 games since the holiday break ended. But they've gone 10-3 in their last 13 games since starting the season 4-13.
But strong defense, fast-break baskets, 3-point shooting and ball control have been more than enough to cancel any rebounding disadvantages. If this game plan continues to work, the Greyhounds may just meet their goal of returning to nationals after all.
"All we gotta do is win at home next week and then at Wichita," sophomore Evan Brull said, "and then that's it, we're there."
NOTES -- So what happened to Johnson County? The game appears to have been a close one through regulation based on the box score. But Hesston, which won its third straight game, dominated the overtime, 16-9.
Aubrey Johnson came off the bench to lead the Larks with 33 points as he made 11 of 16 field-goal attempts, including 9 of 12 3-pointers. He went into the contest averaging 10 points per game.
The Cavaliers shot 51 percent from the field, making 36 of 70 fielders but allowed 100 points for the first time since a 107-104 double-overtime loss to Labette on Feb. 14, 2007.
It was the second time Hesston reached 100 this season. The Larks lost the other game, 101-100, against Pratt on Dec. 7....
KANSAS CITY KANSAS: Talley 1-7 4-4 6, Turner 7-13 0-0 19, Lee Jr. 3-9 1-2 8, McCuller II 1-1 0-0 2, Lewis 1-3 0-0 2, Shorter 6-10 1-2 19, Young 1-1 0-0 2, Murray 1-5 0-1 2, Lendway 7-13 0-0 15. TOTALS: 28-62 6-9 75.
FORT SCOTT: Walker 4-12 11-12 19, Sims 4-7 9-12 20, Fleming 5-8 0-0 15, Cerda 1-2 6-6 8, Brull 1-5 0-0 3, Owens 0-0 1-2 1, Thompson 0-1 3-4 4, Freeman 7-9 0-0 14. TOTALS: 22-44 30-36 83.
Halftime: Fort Scott 39-23.
Three-point field goals: Kansas City 13-28 (Shorter 6-10, Turner 5-10, Lee Jr. 1-2, Lendway 1-2, Talley 0-4), Fort Scott 9-21 (Fleming 5-8, Sims 3-4, Brull 1-5, Walker 0-4).
Total fouls: Kansas City 22, Fort Scott 11. Fouled out: None. Technical foul: Kansas City bench.
Rebounds: Kansas City 37 (Lewis 8), Fort Scott 25 (Walker 6, Freeman 6). Assists: Kansas City 11 (Talley 4), Fort Scott 12 (Walker 7). Turnovers: Kansas City 17, Fort Scott 10. Steals: Kansas City 5 (5 with 1 each), Fort Scott 10 (Walker 3, Sims 3). Blocked shots: Kansas City 1 (Lendway), Fort Scott 2 (Sims, Cerda).