Looking to get in the win column in Conference play at home the Highland men's basketball team had a battle on their hand at home on Wednesday against Fort Scott but used a strong push in the second half to earn the 58-43 win.

The win moves the Scotties to 16-8 on the season and 3-2 in KJCCC action, while also moving Highland's win streak over the Greyhounds of Fort Scott to eight.

Locked in a battle the contest was back and forth throughout the first half until the Scotties went on an 8-0 run to lead 18-13 with 8:32 left in the first half. Fort Scott tied the game up at 19-19 with just over five minutes before halftime and each team would struggle to score the rest of the first half but a pair of Rashon Johnson free throws gave Highland the 21-20 lead entering halftime.

Early in the second half Fort Scott swung the lead into their favor up 29-25 but Highland had an answer and push the lead back into their favor growing the lead to double figures for the first time with 5:24 left in the game. During the process of taking a double figure lead and down the stretch Highland outscored Fort Scott 21-6 over a 10 minute stretch and used that to secure the 58-43 win.

While Highland shot just 32.7% from the floor in the contest the Scottie defense stymied Fort Scott holding them to 30.4% shooting including 16.7% from three-point range.

Marquise Milton notched 20 points on the night to lead Highland adding four rebounds and three steals. Rashon Johnson recorded his fourth double-double with 15 points and 14 rebounds as he was 8-10 from the free throw line. Kendon Knight tallied eight points, while Aguek Deng snared 10 rebounds.

The second portion of the Conference slate starts on Saturday, February 8^th as the Scotties travel to Overland Park, Kansas for a showdown with #11 Johnson County.