Box Score For the second straight game, the 15th-ranked Fort Hays State men's basketball team fell on the road in overtime after holding a late lead in regulation, this time at Missouri Western on Saturday (Dec. 7) in St. Joseph, Mo. The Griffons hit a shot to tie the game with 23 seconds left and the Tigers could not hit a shot at the end of regulation before falling 82-79 in overtime to the Griffons. FHSU begins conference play at 0-2 after a 7-0 non-conference start to the season.

FHSU trailed by four at halftime but a 13-0 run in the second half gave FHSU an eight-point lead with 6:31 to play. FHSU was up seven with 4:20 to play, but MWSU closed the second half on a 10-3 run to get the game tied with 23 seconds to play on a baseline floater. A Craig Nicholson 3-point attempt at the buzzer missed and the Tigers went to overtime for the second straight game after falling at Central Missouri in overtime on Thursday night. Defensive rebounding in the late going was a problem once again as FHSU failed to get the rebound on Missouri Western's miss with 47 seconds to go, which allowed them to retain the ball and get the basket to tie the game.

A pair of 3-point baskets gave Missouri Western a six-point overtime lead, but FHSU came back to tie the game with 2:15 to go in the extra period on a Jared Tadlock 3-point play. Another MWSU 3-pointer made the difference as the Tigers could only pull within one twice the rest of the way.

Craig Nicholson led FHSU in scoring with 23 points, while adding three assists. The Tigers had a very uncharacteristic night struggling to move the ball around efficiently with just seven assists as a team, when they average nearly 20 per game. They turned the ball over 16 times in the game. Dwayne Brunson had 13 points, Tomislav Gabric had 12, and Carson Konrade and James Fleming each had 10. FHSU shot a solid 50 percent from the floor and 82.1 percent at the free-throw line.

Ryan Devers led MWSU with 19 points, while Adarius Fulton added 15.

Fort Hays State goes back into non-conference play on Saturday (Dec. 14) to host Central Christian College at Gross Memorial Coliseum in Hays. Game time is set for 4 pm on Saturday. FHSU will have a big home game against Northwest Missouri State on Saturday, Dec. 21, to try and begin to dig out of its 0-2 start in MIAA play.