The Fort Hays State men's basketball team opens the 2010-11 regular season on Friday (Nov. 12) at the South Central Regional Challenge in Bartlesville, Okla. The Tigers are one of six teams from the South Central Region competing in the tournament. FHSU opens with No. 20 ranked Midwestern State (Texas) on Friday at 6 pm, then plays Southwestern Oklahoma State on Saturday at 3:30 pm.

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***The game Friday against Midwestern State will be available in its entirety on Tiger Radio (Mix 103.3 FM or www.tigersports.net), but the game Saturday against Southwestern Oklahoma will be available at the completion of the football game at Missouri Western on www.tigersports.net. The entire basketball game on Saturday can be heard on KAYS Radio (1400 AM).

Fort Hays State is coming off a 23-7 record in 2009-10 and a second-place finish in the MIAA with a 16-4 mark. The Tigers made their fourth appearance in the NCAA Tournament under head coach Mark Johnson as the No. 3 seed in the South Central Regional. The Tigers scored a win over Central Oklahoma in the first round before being knocked out by MIAA Champion Central Missouri in the semifinals. The Tigers climbed all the way to No. 3 in the country last year with an 17-1 start to the season before cooling in the second half of conference play.

The Tigers played their only exhibition contest of the season this past Friday evening (Nov. 5) against Central Christian (Kan.) College in Hays. The Tigers cruised to an 88-46 win by outscoring CCC 41-15 in the second half.

The Tigers will have a very stiff test in front of them Friday in Midwestern State. The Mustangs were the regional champion last year, going to the Elite Eight as the top seed out of the South Central Region. The Mustangs squeaked by Central Missouri at home in the regional championship game last year. A loss in the first round of the Elite Eight ended Midwestern State's season at 31-3 overall.

Midwestern State gave Baylor University, the preseason No. 16 ranked team in NCAA Division I, all it could handle in exhibition play this past Thursday, losing 68-59. Midwestern State's last lead was at the 8:37 mark of the second half and never let the Bears have a lead larger than nine points the entire game. Midwestern State plays in exhibition Tuesday (Nov. 9) at Purdue University.

Southwestern Oklahoma State also has shown that it will be a team to be reckoned with after knocking off NCAA Division I Central Arkansas this past Saturday (Nov. 6) by a score of 70-60. The last meeting between SWOSU and FHSU occurred in 2007-08 with FHSU winning 54-51 in Hays. The Tigers fell earlier that year at SWOSU. The Bulldogs were ranked nationally in each of those games.

The Tigers will not have much time to rest as they return to Hays for their first home game of the regular season Monday (Nov. 15) night against Bethany College. Game time is set for 7:30 pm that evening, which will follow the women's game against Doane starting at 5:30 pm.