Box Score

The 19th-ranked Fort Hays State men's basketball team snapped its three-game losing skid at Pittsburg State on Saturday afternoon (Jan. 14) in Pittsburg, Kan. Down by one at halftime, the Tigers went on a 18-5 run to open the second half, building a 12-point lead. They held off the Gorillas the rest of the way to win 76-66. The Tigers moved to 11-4 overall and 5-4 in the MIAA with the win. Pittsburg State dropped to 10-6 overall and 6-4 in the MIAA.

Both teams struggled scoring the ball early, but both warmed to over 40 percent by the end of the first half. Tyrone Phillips led the Tigers at the break with 11 points. He would go on to finish with 15 points and was a perfect 7-of-7 at the free-throw line on the day.

Fort Hays State scored the first basket of the second half on a Moses Dayee 3-point field goal to take a two-point lead. FHSU never trailed the remainder of the game. The 18-5 run for the Tigers to open the second half pushed the Tiger advantage to 12 points and the lead eventually grew to 16 at the 7:17 mark. FHSU was 8-of-11 from the field within their burst to open the second half.

Pittsburg State slowly chipped away to get the FHSU lead down to seven with 1:29 remaining, but Fort Hays State hit its last 12 free-throw attempts of the game to secure the victory. Kendrick Morse and Phillips each went 4-of-4 on their attempts in that stretch, while Karron McKenzie and Omar McDade each added a pair. FHSU finished 20-of-25 at the free-throw line for the game (80 percent).

Dayee was the high-point man for the Tigers with 19 points on 5-of-8 shooting beyond the 3-point line and was 7-of-10 from the field overall. McKenzie finished with 13 and Morse added 12. Matt Simmons reached double figures in rebounds once again with 10.

Eric Ray led Pittsburg State with 14 points, followed by JaVon McGee with 11 and Andra Bailey with 10.

Fort Hays State finished the game at 57.1 percent from the field, shooting a red-hot 68.2 percent from the field in the second half. The Tigers held PSU to 41.1 percent for the game.

Fort Hays State wraps up the first half of the conference slate on Wednesday (Jan. 18) at Emporia State. FHSU is currently in sixth place in the MIAA standings, but just a game back of a three-way tie for second.