Box Score

The No. 14 ranked Fort Hays State men's basketball team remained unbeaten on the season, defeating Nebraska-Omaha in dominating fashion Friday night (Dec. 3) by a score of 98-69. The win gave Fort Hays State's men's program its 500th win in 38 years of play at Gross Memorial Coliseum. Seven players scored in double figures for the Tigers in the balanced offensive effort. The Tigers improved to 8-0, 2-0 in the MIAA.

Ken Bowman led the way for FHSU with 19 points on red hot 9-of-10 shooting from the field and hit his only free-throw attempt of the game. He had three thunderous dunks leading to 7-of-7 shooting in the first half, the third on an alley-oop from Dominique Jones in transition near the end of the first half which brought the Tiger crowd to its feet.

Dijon Smith also dominated in the post, hitting 5-of-6 shots and all four of his free-throw attempts to finish with 14 points. Bowman and Smith have combined to shoot 86.4 percent (38-of-44) from the field over the last three games. Bowman is now 74.1 percent from the field and Smith is 68.3 percent from the field for the season.

Ben Congiusta tied his career high for the second straight game, pouring in 14 points by hitting four 3-point field goals and both of his free-throw attempts. Corbin Kuntzsch and Moses Dayee each finished with 12. Dayee had all 12 of his points on four 3-point field goals.

Dominique Jones had 11 points and a career-high 10 assists for his first double-double of the season. Karron McKenzie rounded out the double-figure scorers for FHSU with 10.

Matt Simmons helped complete the whole team effort by grabbing 16 rebounds to go with his four points. The 16 rebounds were most in a game by a Tiger since the 2005-06 season when Jeremy Atwater pulled down 22 boards at Metro State.

The Tigers shot 57.1 percent from the field for the game, making it the third straight game where they shot better than 50 percent from the field. They shot 62.1 percent in the first half, on the way to a 51-29 halftime lead. The Tigers also shot a staggering 93.8 percent at the free-throw line (15-of-16).

The Mavericks were held to just 32.8 percent shooting overall, including 23.5 percent beyond the 3-point line. Tyler Bullock led UNO with 18 points, followed by Torrian Harris with 16.

The Tigers are now 500-92 all-time at Gross Memorial Coliseum since the venue opened for play in 1973. That's a winning percentage of .845. Since joining NCAA Division II, the Tigers are 266-39 at the coliseum (.872). Fort Hays State is 123-21 (.854) at the coliseum under head coach Mark Johnson.

These home wins are big for the Tigers as they now begin the tough grind of MIAA road play, starting next week against very dangerous Washburn and Missouri Western teams. The Tigers play on Wednesday (Dec. 8) at Washburn and Saturday (Dec. 11) at Missouri Western. The Tigers are out to their first 8-0 start since the 1996-97 season.

The next set of national rankings come out next week on Tuesday (Dec. 7), but the No. 13, 12, 11, and 8 teams in the nation all lost earlier this week, which likens the chances of FHSU climbing higher.