Box Score

The No. 13 ranked FHSU men's basketball team posted a 79-63 win over Missouri Western on Thursday night (Feb. 3) to move to 18-3 overall and 12-3 in the MIAA. This sets up a battle of second and third place teams in the MIAA Saturday when FHSU hosts in-state rival Washburn at 3 pm, which will be televised as the MIAA Network Game of the Week.

The Tigers built a 10-point halftime lead, then eventally led by 22 in the second half to coast to the victory. Fort Hays State shot 50 percent from the field, while Missouri Western (9-10 overall, 7-7 MIAA) shot 42.6 percent from the field.

Ken Bowman led all scorers, nearly posting a double-double with 19 points and nine rebounds. He also tied for a team-high two blocked shots. Dijon Smith paired with him in the post for 17 points, four rebounds and two blocked shots. Both shot 7-of-10 from the field. Matt Simmons had a double-double off the bench with a career-high 14 points on 7-of-9 shooting and 11 rebounds. The only three forwards on the team combined for 50 of the team's 79 points, helping the team to 46 points in the paint.

Even though he had an off night scoring, Dominique Jones busted out a career-high 13 assists and four steals. The 13 assists are sixth most in a single game in Fort Hays State history.

Missouri Western was without its top two scorers due to a violation of team rules. Adrian Thomas scored a team-high 16 points, followed by Lavonte Douglas with 15 points and TJ Johnson with 13.

The Tigers remain a game back of Missouri Southern in the MIAA standings after the Lions defeated Lincoln University on Thursday night.

Fort Hays State is just one game ahead of Washburn for second in the loss column in the MIAA standings. The Ichabods enter Hays Saturday as the hottest team in the conference, winners of six straight. Television coverage of the game throughout the state of Kansas and the Kansas City area can be found at the following link...MIAA Network. The television broadcast will be for both the women's and men's games. The women's game begins at 1 pm at Gross Memorial Coliseum.

Saturday's promotion is "Blackout the Bods", so wear your black to the coliseum. The first 1500 fans to the coliseum receive a chance to win TV, laptop, or smartphone courtesy of game sponsor Nex-Tech and Nex-Tech Wireless.