Greyhounds Split Decisions in Win Versus Neosho & Loss to Johnson County
CHANUTE & FORT SCOTT, Kan. (Feb. 19, 2024) - Fort Scott (19-8, 7-4 KJCCC) men's basketball had mixed performances during the week of Feb. 12-17, collecting an at the time fifth-straight win late in the season against Neosho County (14-12, 5-6 KJCCC) going 64-57, only to suffer a close two to three possession defeat to Johnson County (22-5, 8-3 KJCCC) 67-61. The .500 showing by the program last week puts the Hounds in third-place in the KJCCC standings, just behind first-place Kansas City (18-9, 9-2 KJCCC) and second-place Johnson County.
Starting on the positive side of things, the mid-week road victory against Neosho County saw Bryce Journee lead the way with a game-high 20-point effort, made possible by his seven-for-10 (70.0%) shooting night. Fort Scott was down early at 28-22 to begin the second-half. Despite an overall lower shooting percentage as a team compared to Neosho (24-of-52, 46.2%), the Greyhounds (22-of-53, 41.5%) kept things close and eventually out of hand from three for the Panthers. From downtown Fort Scott went six-for-17 (35.3%), choosing its shots wisely against a 5-for-23 (21.7%) attempt by Neosho. When it was all tied up at 53-53, Journee sank two major free throws to put the Hounds past the Panthers, while never looking back.
As the Greyhounds drew 11 fouls from Neosho, they backed up the extra opportunities going 14-of-16 from the charity stripe. Neosho only attempted five free throws all game, showing that Fort Scott played a fairly clean game defensively, made even more apparent by a 13-total steal night for the program. Derrick McDonald and Andre Norris each took three possessions away from the Panthers, while Journee, BJ Francis and Davion Sargent got in on the fun, with each earning a pair of steals.
Just at the height of the five-game win-streak by the Greyhound men, Johnson County played spoiler, beating out the men in Maroon & White. The home match for the Hounds was close at the half 22-21, with the Cavaliers holding out with a 45-40 second half showing to seal the loss. The biggest collective misstep for Fort Scott was a rough 18-of-51 (35.3%) effort from the field, compared to Johnson County's 25-for-53 (47.2%). Francis had a game-high 27-points, as well as six total steals. Even in the loss the Greyhounds took away 15 steals, making the week' total to 28. The extra possessions proved to not be enough however, as the Cavaliers nabbed 37 rebounds to the Hounds 28. This gave the Cavaliers a slight edge not only in the weekend's matchup, but also in the overall KJCCC Division II standings.
Fort Scott still has three opportunities to move up on the regular season conference leaderboard and fine tune its performances. The next time the Hounds will lace it up is Wednesday, Feb. 21st, against KCKCC, the number one ranked team in the conference, on the road up north in Kansas City, Kan., at the Hy-Vee Arena at 7:30 p.m. (CST). Following the late season mid-week top-tier conference battle, Fort Scott is back at Arnold Arena for its final regular season home game of the 2023-24 campaign against Route-54 neighbor Allen County. You can follow all the latest news and updates on the FSCC men's basketball program on X (Twitter) @fsgreyhounds and fsgreyhounds.com.