Box Score

Fort Hays State used a 14-0 run early to build a 17-2 lead and cruised the rest of the way to a 78-63 win over Lincoln in Hays on Saturday afternoon (Jan. 21). The 25th ranked Tigers moved to 13-4 overall and 7-4 in the MIAA with the win. Lincoln dropped to 3-13 overall and 3-8 in the MIAA.

After Fort Hays State built its 15-point lead of 17-2 at the 13:00 mark of the first half, poor offensive possessions allowed Lincoln to go on a 9-1 run and cut the lead down to seven at the 8:21 mark. Moses Dayee ended a nearly six minute drought without a field goal by the Tigers with a 3-pointer, his only basket of the game. That pushed the FHSU lead back to 10 and the Tigers eventually led by 14 at the half.

FHSU built its largest lead of 22 points with 3:21 remaining in the game, but Lincoln ended the game on a 12-5 run to produce the final margin of 15. FHSU shot 46.2 percent from the field, while holding Lincoln to 41.2 percent. FHSU buried 10 3-point field goals, led by Tyrone Phillips who had three. Phillips finished with a team-high 23 points on 8-of-14 shooting from the field and a 4-of-4 effort at the free-throw line.

Joining Phillips in double-figure scoring for the Tigers was Lance Russell with 17 points off the bench on 7-of-10 shooting from the field. Omar McDade added 14 and Matt Simmons finished with a double-double of 13 points and 16 rebounds. It was the fourth double-double of the season for Simmons. He had 13 of his rebounds at halftime.

Lincoln received a huge effort from Cedric Ridle, Jr., to keep the game from getting out of hand. He finished with 38 points on 15-of-29 shooting from the field, which included a 5-of-8 effort beyond the 3-point line. He was 3-of-6 at the free-throw line. Ridle had all 19 of Lincoln's points at halftime.

Ridle had the first 24 points of the game for Lincoln until James Edmond hit a free-throw at the 17:04 mark of the second half. Matt Morris finally produced the first field goal by any Lincoln player other than Ridle at the 16:03 mark. Morris went on to match Ridle for high-point scorer in the second half, each scoring 19. Ridle and Morris combined for 57 of Lincoln's 63 points.

Fort Hays State now hits the road for three consecutive games before returning home on February 8. FHSU has an entire week off before playing in the MIAA Television Game of the Week next Saturday (Jan. 28) at Northwest Missouri State. Game availabilty is listed in the link below...

MIAA Television Network