It was down to the wire and the fourth of five Conference games decided by single digits for the #6 Highland men's basketball team as they took on Fort Scott on the road on Wednesday night and squeaked out a 76-75 win.

The win pushes Highland to 22-2 on the season and 4-1 in KJCCC play, while giving the Scotties their fifth straight win over Fort Scott in the series.

It was a back and forth battle in the first half with each team in the driver seat at times but by halftime Highland found themselves trailing 37-33. That lead grew to as high as nine in the early portion of the second half leading to an early Scottie timeout but Highland didn't go away as Tristen Hull had a three-point play with just under 13 minutes left and that gave Highland their first lead in the second half at 48-46. It would remain close down the stretch including tied at multiple junctures including 65-65 with 3:16 remaining.

Scotties went up five multiple times in the final minute but Fort Scott hit big shots making free throws critical for Highland down the stretch and Taiveyhon Mason stepped to the line to drain multiple free throws including the go ahead free with only seconds left. Fort Scott fired a three-point try at the buzzer but it would not go and Highland squeezed out the 76-75 win.

For the 13^th time this season Highland shot over 50% from the floor posting a 53.8% shooting night.

The workload on the evening was carried by Mason and Hull who accounted for 51 of the team's 76 points on the evening. Mason matched his career high with 30 points on 9-12 shooting and 9-11 from the free throw line adding five rebounds, while Hull posted a career best 21 points on 8-12 shooting adding four rebounds.

UP NEXT
Highland starts the second go around through Conference play on Saturday, February 9^th as the Scotties host #5 Johnson County with a tipoff time of 3:00pm. (Game will be live streamed on the Scottie Sports Network – watch live)