After closing out the regular
season with a big road
win over Class 5A Pittsburg
last Friday, the Independence
High School boys grabbed
the No. 5 seed for Sub-State
and hosted fellow Southeast
Kansas League opponent Ft.
Scott on Wednesday, March
4. Following an abysmal fi rst
quarter and trailing by double
digits heading into the fourth
quarter, the Bulldogs fi nally
found an offensive rhythm
down the stretch to complete
the comeback and pick up the
51-40 victory.
“As bad as those fi rst three
quarters were, it was just the
opposite in the fourth,” ‘Dogs
Head Coach Marcus Lanning
detailed after the win. “The
last seven minutes, we were
able to execute what we needed
to do..we tried to execute in
practice better this week, but
honestly, Monday and Tuesday
our execution was terrible
and we changed some stuff up.
It showed the fi rst three quarters
that we weren’t ready..we
had open shots early and we
didn’t knock them down.”
IHS senior guard Jaden
McGrath led all scorers with
20 points — 16 of which came
in the crucial fourth quarter
run — while senior forward
TJ Turner added nine and
fellow seniors Davion Lewis
and Amauryon Farley scored
seven apiece in the winning
effort. Overall, the Bulldogs
were 19-22 at the free throw
line, compared to a 6-15 clip
by the visitors. Indy went 17-
18 at the charity stripe in
the fi nal eight minutes alone,
which proved to be the difference
in the contest.
Both squads struggled offensively
in the early going, as
Indy managed just one fi eld
goal and Ft. Scott hit a couple
of three-pointers and a free
throw to take a 7-2 lead at the
end of the fi rst. The second
stanza was a slight improvement,
with the Tigers outscoring
their hosts 10-9 to go into
intermission up 16-11.
Ft. Scott opened the second
half on a 5-0 run to build a
double digit lead and forced
a quick Bulldogs timeout
with 6:29 in the third period.
The Tigers kept IHS at bay
throughout the quarter and
were ahead 28-18 after three
complete. That’s when Indy
rediscovered their offense,
exploding for a 33-point quarter
while Ft. Scott managed
12 points. The ‘Dogs took
their fi rst lead of the night
as McGrath hit a three to
pull within two, then on the
ensuing possession, Turner
grabbed an offensive rebound,
scored the put back and completed
the old-fashioned threepoint
play to put the home
team ahead 36-34 with 3:47 to
play. With just under a minute
remaining, Indy used some
clutch free throw shooting to
seal the win: senior Brayden
Coller made four straight and
junior Jaxon Paige went 5-6
down the stretch to wrap up
the 51-40 fi nal.
“We’ve been focusing..we
were 6-15 last Friday against
Pittsburg and we’ve gotta be
better than that. They did a lot
better this time, so I was very
pleased,” Lanning added.
The Bulldogs (14-7) advance
to the Sub-State semifi nals at
No. 4 seed Ottawa this Saturday,
March 7 at 6:00 p.m. and
are just one win away from
punching their ticket to the
Class 4A State Tournament in
Salina next week.