Fort Hays State hosts Newman University on Tuesday night (Nov. 19) in its home opener at Gross Memorial Coliseum in Hays. Game time is set for 7:30 pm. The Tigers enter at 3-0 overall, while Newman is 2-1.
Fort Hays State picked up key regional wins in its first three games of the year, all on the road. FHSU defeated Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference teams Southwest Minnesota State and Upper Iowa in Minnesota, then most recently defeated Northwestern Oklahoma State of the Great American Conference on Saturday in Alva, Okla.
FHSU looks for more in-region wins this week at home with Heartland Conference teams Newman and Oklahoma-Panhandle State. The Heartland Conference is not part of the Central Region in Division II, but since Newman is in Kansas and Panhandle State is in a state that borders Kansas, the games still count as in-region. The Tigers open the year with six consecutive in-region non-conference games.
Dwayne Brunson has scored 58 points over the last two games for FHSU, 25 in the win against Upper Iowa and most recently 33 at Northwestern Oklahoma State. His 16 field goals in the win over NWOSU tied for ninth most in a game in FHSU history. He has recorded double-doubles in the last two games with 12 rebounds against Upper Iowa and 14 against NWOSU. He is now tied for the team lead in scoring at 20.0 points per game with
Craig Nicholson, and is nearly averaging a double-double with 9.7 rebounds per game.
Nicholson has scored in double figures in every game so far this year with 29 as his season and career high in the season opener against Southwest Minnesota State. He is also dishing out a team-best 8.0 assists per game.
Carson Konrade is currently averaging four 3-point field goals per contest, hitting 12-of-22 attempts so far for a .545 percentage so far. He is averaging 13.7 points per game. Also averaging double figures are
Tomislav Gabric (12.7) and
James Fleming (10.7).
Fort Hays State is looking to avenge a loss to Newman last year in Wichita by a score of 80-78. FHSU held an early 14 point lead in the game before the Jets stormed back to lead at halftime and never gave up the lead from there on out. Newman went on to make the NCAA Tournament last year and was ranked as high as No. 14 in the nation at one point.
