Box Score The FHSU men's basketball team, ranked No. 9 in the latest NCAA Division II rankings, escaped Kirksville, Mo., with a 63-58 win over Truman on Monday afternoon (Jan. 2). Up by one with just under four minutes remaining, Moses Dayee and Kendrick Morse dialed up a pair 3-point field goals that gave the Tigers enough separation to eventually pull out the road victory.

According to head coach Mark Johnson, FHSU executed its defensive game plan well, but offensive struggles are what allowed Truman to stay in the game. FHSU held Truman to just 20 percent shooting in the first half (5-of-25), but unfortunately were unable to muster much offense as well, shooting just 31 percent (9-of-29). As a result, the Tigers led by just four at halftime, 23-19. FHSU hit just 2-of-12 shots (16.7 percent) beyond the 3-point line in the first half.

FHSU did better in the second half offensively, shooting 48.1 percent from the field, while keeping Truman under 40 percent once again. FHSU finished the game at 39.3 percent overall, its second-lowest percentage of the season, but held Truman to 31.1 percent overall.

In a game where every possession was valuable, the Tigers looked to seize control of the offensive struggle with a 7-0 run to take an 11-point lead at the 11:15 mark of the second half, but Truman followed that with a 12-2 run to pull back within one point at the 7:19 mark.

After trading a pair of baskets, both teams went scoreless from the 6:48 mark to the 3:58 mark until Moses Dayee snapped that drought with a 3-point field goal to put FHSU up four. Kendrick Morse followed on the next possession with another triple to push the FHSU lead back to seven. That would be enough to lift the Tigers to victory, who did not allow the Bulldogs any closer than four points the rest of the way.

Morse and Tyrone Phillips tied for a team-high 14 points, followed by Karron McKenzie with 12 and Dayee with 11. Matt Simmons turned in a nice performance with a team-high 11 rebounds, while adding seven points. Morse also finished with a team-high four assists.

Seth Jackson was the top performer for Truman with 23 points. He was just 6-of-19 from the field, but finished 11-of-14 at the free-throw line. He made and attempted over half of the free-throws by Truman in the game. He also finished with a team-high nine rebounds. EJ Hicks added 16 points for the Bulldogs.

The Tigers get one day off before returning to action on Wednesday evening (Jan. 4) at Central Missouri, with game time set at 7:30 pm in Warrensburg.