Box Score

The No. 17 ranked Tigers fell on the road Saturday evening (Feb. 26) at Emporia State 81-77 in the final game of the regular season. As in several of their losses this season, the Tigers hurt themselves with poor free-throw shooting and turnovers in crucial moments of the game. Fort Hays State is 22-6 overall heading into the MIAA Tournament.

The Tigers had to play catch up in the second half after trailing by eight at halftime. They cut the lead all the way down to one at the 13:41 mark of the second half, but ESU went on a 5-0 run to get separation again. The Tigers finally pushed past the Hornets at the 6:29 mark on a 3-point play by Karron McKenzie. That would be the last lead for FHSU. The teams were tied twice before ESU hit its free-throws down the stretch to win the game.

The Tigers were 3-of-6 at the free-throw line in the last two and a half minutes, compared to Emporia State going 8-of-8 in that time span before Robert Moores missed a pair with 12 seconds remaining with ESU up four. Fort Hays State finished 57.1 percent from the line (12-of-21), but Emporia State buried 24 free-throws to make the difference.

Dominique Jones led the FHSU scoring effort with 31 points, his second-best scoring output of the season. He went 9-of-15 from the field, which included four 3-point field goals, and a 9-of-13 effort at the free-throw line. It was the second time Jones scored over 30 in a game this year.

Ken Bowman, Dijon Smith and Moses Dayee all finished with 10 points. Dayee buried three 3-point field goals, all coming in the first push of the second half for the Tigers. Bowman and Smith each buried five field goals, but went a combined 0-of-3 from the free-throw line.

Taylor Euler and Michael Tyler each had a team-high 18 points for ESU. Adam Holthaus added 12.