FSHS boys blast Columbus

Sunday, February 5, 2006
Fort Scott's Zach Quick (4) drives by Columbus' Chris Duley for a layup at the end of the first quarter of Friday night's game at the FSHS gymnasium. Quick scored 22 points and hauled down 15 rebounds as the Tigers routed the Titans in Southeast Kansas League play, 84-37.

FORT SCOTT, Kan. -- Despite falling into a 6-2 hole early on, Fort Scott High School's boys whipped up on Southeast Kansas League rival Columbus, 84-37, in the Tigers' Homecoming game at the FSHS gymnasium here Friday night.

The Tigers (2-1 SEK, 8-6 overall) were led by Zach Quick's 22-point, 15-rebound, nine-assist night as well as 23 more points from Zach Smith, who made 10 of 20 shots from the field. Both point totals and Quick's rebounding numbers were all season highs.

Fort Scott shot 56 percent (36 of 64) from the field in the game, getting better as each quarter progressed. And they were able to score almost any way you could imagine.

Three-pointers? Smith had three of the Tigers' five on the night.

Transition? The fast break was quite effective, particularly in a two-minute long scoring binge by Quick in which he posted three transition baskets among the 10 straight points he scored.

When Quick started his solo run, the Tigers led 14-13 with a minute left in the first quarter. By the end, it was 24-13 barely a minute into the second.

Going inside? Tony Karleskint scored 11 points, making five of the six field-goal attempts he took.

Set offense? The Tigers dished out 17 assists in all.

Columbus (0-3, 6-9) shot a paltry 27 percent from the field, making 15 of 55 total attempts and going one of 15 from three-point range. Whatever the Tigers did right, the Titans seemed to do wrong.

The Tigers scored 18 unanswered points later in the second period to boost their lead to 42-16. The also scored the first 10 of the third period to stretch a 47-21 lead to 36 points despite a longer-than-usual halftime caused by the Homecoming ceremonies.

By the end of the third period, the advantage was 71-28. This marked just the second time Fort Scott had scored 70 this season and by the time the game was over, it had its first 80-point night since beating Coffeyville 83-64 in the league game last season.

Defensively, the 37 points was a season low and the lowest since last year's 70-39 victory over Louisburg in the first round of the Class 4A State Tournament.

Zach Crain was the only Titan able to reach double figures in scoring as he posted 13 points.

Fort Scott outrebounded Columbus, 44-31, and committed only 13 turnovers. The Tigers forced the Titans into 17 turnovers, which included 12 steals -- three each by Smith and John Leek.

In the freshman game, Fort Scott took a 55-34 win to stay undefeated on the season. Aaron Judy and Alex Varner each scored 10 points. Also, the Tigers defeated Independence, 63-48, on Tuesday night as Kolby Allen scored 14 points and Brian Gorman added 10.

The Tigers play three games next week, starting with a home make-up game against Parsons Monday night. This will not be a league game. Tuesday night, Fort Scott travels to Iola.

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