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The top two teams in the MIAA collide once again in the finals of the MIAA Championship Tournament in Kansas City on Sunday (Mar. 6) at 1 pm. Fort Hays State, the No. 2 seed ranked 19th in the nation, takes on Missouri Southern, the No. 1 seed ranked eighth in the nation. The game will be televised on the MIAA Network. Fort Hays State is looking for its first ever MIAA Championship in any sport.
The Tigers have pulled out two thrilling wins to reach the finals, defeating No. 7 seed Missouri Western in the first round 86-85 and the No. 6 seed Emporia State in the semifinals 74-71.
Missouri Southern has also pulled out a pair of tight wins in the tournament, defeating No. 8 seed Southwest Baptist 101-94 in the first round and No. 4 seed Nebraska-Omaha 88-85 in the semifinals.
Missouri Southern claimed the two previous meetings this season, en route to the MIAA Regular Season Championship. The Lions won 82-64 in Joplin, then squeaked out a one-point win of 64-63 in Hays. Missouri Southern enters on a three-game win streak over the Tigers, dating back to the 2009-10 season. Fort Hays State won the only meeting the teams have ever had in the conference tournament back in 2007-08.
Dominique Jones has led FHSU in scoring in the tournament, averaging 15.5 points in two games. He leads the team in scoring overall at 17.5 points per game and leads the MIAA in assists per game (6.4).
A trio of Tigers are all averaging 14 points per game in the tournament, which includes Dijon Smith, Corbin Kuntzsch and Karron McKenzie. Smith is nearly right on his season average of 14.4 points per game and Kuntzsch has been steady by dropping 14 points in each game so far. Kuntzsch is averaging 10.5 points per game on the season and ranks 11th on the all-time scoring list at FHSU with 1,174 points. McKenzie is well above his season scoring average of 7.7 points per game. He's been the spark off the bench for the Tigers in the tournament. He is tied for the team lead in rebounds in the tournament with Matt Simmons, each averaging 7.0 per game.
Following the game on Sunday, the Tigers will find out their NCAA Tournament destination at 9 pm central time on www.ncaa.com.
