The Fort Hays State men's basketball team hosts Southwest Baptist in MIAA play on Wednesday (Jan. 16) at Gross Memorial Coliseum in Hays. Tipoff is set for 7:30 pm. The Tigers enter the game at 9-4 overall, 3-2 in the MIAA, while Southwest Baptist enters at 5-9 overall, 3-3 in the MIAA.
Fort Hays State looks to keep pace with the front-running pack in the MIAA, just a game back of first-place Northwest Missouri State and Central Missouri, which sit at 4-1 in conference play. The Tigers are literally just seven points from only having one loss this year as three of their four losses on the season have been by two points or less. The most recent was this past Thursday, a 70-69 loss at home to 13th-ranked Washburn, where the Tigers had the last possession of the game but were unable to convert a basket for the win.
After struggling to a 2-9 start overall, Southwest Baptist enters this game on a three-game win streak, all in conference play. That streak includes a road win at Lincoln and home wins against Emporia State and Northeastern State. The Bearcats have the second-longest current win streak of any team in the conference entering Wednesday.
This is the first time since FHSU joined the MIAA in 2006-07 that FHSU and SBU will meet just once in the regular season. The regular season series has been swept the past four years by one of the schools. SBU won both meetings last year by five points each. FHSU won both meetings in the two years prior for a four-game win streak from 2009-11. SBU swept the series in 2008-09. The all-time series is tight with SBU holding a 7-6 edge.
Dwayne Brunson continues to lead FHSU in scoring and rebounding at 15.5 points and 8.4 rebounds per game. The Tigers have three other players averaging double figures in scoring, which includes
Lance Russell (13.7),
Ben Congiusta (13.4) and
Craig Nicholson (12.9). Nicholson continues to lead the MIAA in assists at 6.9 per contest.
