On January 14, Fort Scott hosted Highland Community College to open conference play.
The Hounds and Scotties were going shot for shot throughout the game. The Scotties started out on fire shooting 56% from the field throughout the game. The Hounds had an 8-0 run to end the half with a big three from Keryn Collins putting the Hounds up 40-34 at half.
The Hounds hit the floor running in the second half with Highland going into the double bonus halfway through the second half. The Hounds capitalized by hitting clutch free throws to give them the lead. The Hounds shot 75% from the line. The Hounds won by a close margin edging the Scotties 80-74.
The key contributors for the game were Keryn Collins who was the leading scorer with 23 points, 4 assists and 2 boards. Andre Norris continued his strong season with 14 points, 3 rebounds and 4 assists. Clance Crosby continued his double- double brigade with 14 points and 14 boards. Kris O'Neal was handing out dimes all night with 7 assists, 13 points and 4 rebounds. The Hounds continued to play unselfish basketball with 25 total assists.
Coach Cochran had this to say about the game: "First off, I want to thank everyone tremendously for making Arnold Arena a true home environment we wouldn't have been able to start Conference off with a huge win. Once again, we were able to come away with a 3.0 assist to turnover ratio for the second straight game (24 assists and 8 turnovers). the grit and consistent hard noised level of play from everyone helped spread the lead out at the end. The Hounds haven't lost a game in 52 days, and are 5-0 in December/January, I love the direction we are headed and mindset our guys have developed in this timeframe. We hope to keep that alive Wednesday against a well-coached Johnson County team."
The Hounds look to make it 6th straight at Johnson County Community College on January 18th tip off is at 7:30.