’Hound men remain unbeaten in January

Teams moving in the opposite direction met in Arnold Arena Saturday afternoon in Jayhawk Conference play. Host Fort Scott Community College was on a six-game winning streak while visiting Labette was on a five-game losing skid.

Recent form held true as Fort Scott claimed an 86-73 victory. But Labette posed a serious threat in the first half, leading by eight points at the break, before the Greyhounds came out with much-improved shooting in the second 20 minutes.

The Greyhounds, winning their conference opener after beating Hesston on the road Wednesday, are 16-6 overall. It’s their highest win total since 2006-07 when they finished 19-12. It’s only the 10th season with at least 16 wins for the program since 1970

““If we can continue to get better and grow, I think it could be a special season,” Fort Scott head coach Michael Cook said.

Fort Scott hasn’t lost since beating Central-Columbus at Beatrice, Neb., on Dec. 9. Labette hasn’t won since beating Next Level Hoops in Parsons on Dec. 19.

The Cardinals fell to 0-2 in the conference and 10-12 overall.

Labette looked primed to turn the tables, especially in the first half when the Cards held Fort Scott to 8-of-29 field-goal shooting. After the Greyhounds went out to a an 11-7 lead in the first 6 1/2 minutes, Labette got a spark from Aaron Washington off the bench, who scored 8 points in five minutes as the Cards began to rally.

Fort Scott led 29-21 with 6:03 left in the half before Labette went on an 18-0 run while also holding the ’Hounds without a field goal the rest of the half. Kashawn Charles scored 9 points during the streak, including the last three with 46 seconds left in the half. Fort Scott’s only points came on two free throws in the last 45 seconds and Labette went into the locker room with a 39-31 lead.

Fort Scott missed at least seven straight shots going into the half.

“We didn’t have a good walk-through (Saturday) morning,” Cook said. “When you win, you kind of get comfortable. And I thought we got comfortable. I think we assumed (Labette) would take a breather, but instead … they came out ready to fight, ready to get after us and we didn’t answer the call.”

Frank Royals took a defensive rebound coast to coast as Labette matched its largest lead, 10 points, at 45-35 with 16:37 left in the game. But then Fort Scott started to make the shots it missed in the first half as it was their turn to rally.

Tyler Zinn and John Montgomery, Fort Scott’s only sophomores, kicked off the run, which lasted about 10 minutes of game time. The Greyhounds outscored the Cards 31-7 and made it 66-52 when Zinn hit a 3-pointer with 6:02 to go.

“We went a little smaller,” Cook said of Fort Scott’s second-half adjustments. “We left our bigs (Daemar Jones and Donnie Flowers) on the bench. Not because they couldn’t do the job but because I thought we were faster than their bigs. We went with an smaller lineup trying to be aggressive in our zone and getting out and run.”

Labette never fully recovered as Fort Scott went on to make 18 of 30 fielders, 60 percent, in the second half. The ’Hounds also committed just two turnovers while the Cards coughed up the ball nine times.

Zinn finished with 31 points, his career high, for the third time this season as he made 8 of 15 shots from 3-point range. Montgomery, who joined the team at semester, went 9 of 14 on his way to 22 points. Dontrell Sanders chipped in with 13 points.

Royals led Labette with 14 points followed by Charles with 13, Jacob Maxwell with 11 and Washington and Lorenz Nero with 10 each.

Fort Scott will host Kansas City Kansas in conference play Wednesday night. The game is scheduled for a 7:30 p.m. tipoff.

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NOTES — Zinn also scored 31 points versus the Park University junior varsity on Nov. 13 and On Point Academy on Jan. 13. It’s the highest point total for a Greyhound against another junior college since Walker scored 38 at State Fair on Nov. 30, 2016, and the most in a home game against another juco since Walker scored 31 versus Wentworth Military on Nov. 20, 2015....

Zinn is the first Greyhound with more than one 30-plus-point game in a season since Walker accomplished the feat three times during the 2015-16 season....

Zinn and Montgomery combined for a total of 53 points. It’s the second time this season a pair of Greyhound teammates have combined for 50 or more points. Zinn (31) and Andre Nelson (24) combined for 55 in a win over the Park University JV on Nov. 13.

It’s the 11th time since the 2014-15 season (the one in which the ’Hounds qualified for the National tournament) that two ’Hounds have combined for 50-plus points. Fort Scott has won 11 of those games....

Fort Scott’s seven-game winning streak is its longest since a seven-game streak during the 2015-16 season. The last winning streak that was longer came during the 1999-2000 season (nine games)....

LABETTE: Newman 3-6 0-0 7, Royals 6-10 2-2 14, Maxwell 5-7 1-2 11, Charles 5-9 0-2 13, B.Taylor 0-0 0-0 0, Lackey 0-3 0-0 0, Nero 2-5 6-6 10, Allen 2-6 2-4 6, Washington 3-7 2-6 10, Palmer 0-1 2-2 2. TOTALS: 26-54 15-24 73.

FORT SCOTT: Zinn 9-16 5-5 31, Montgomery 9-14 4-8 22, Davis 1-5 3-4 6, Brocato 1-5 2-6 4, Nelson 2-8 5-7 9, Jones 0-3 0-0 0, Sanders 4-8 5-6 13, Flowers 0-0 0-0 0, Richardson 0-0 1-2 1. TOTALS: 26-59 25-38 86.

Fort Scott................................ 31 55 — 86

Three-point field goals: Labette 6-21 (Charles 3-5, Washington 2-4, Newman 1-4, Allen 0-1, Palmer 0-1, Nero 0-2, Royals 0-4), Fort Scott 9-24 (Zinn 8-15, Davis 1-4, Brocato 0-2, Nelson 0-3).

Total fouls: Labette 27, Fort Scott 19. Fouled out: Lackey. Technical foul: Lackey.

Rebounds: Labette 34 (Maxwell 9), Fort Scott 40 (Nelson 9). Assists: Labette 2 (Royals, Allen), Fort Scott 6 (Brocato 2, Jones 2). Turnovers: Labette 15, Fort Scott 10. Steals: Labette 7 (Royals 4), Fort Scott 11 (Zinn 5). Blocked shots: Labette 2 (Charles, Lackey), Fort Scott 2 (Davis, Sanders).