Box Score Fort Hays State put a halt to its three-game losing streak to open MIAA play with a gritty 76-67 win over Missouri Southern in Joplin on Saturday (Jan. 4). The win pushed FHSU to 9-3 overall and 1-3 in the MIAA, while snapping Missouri Southern's seven-game win streak and handing the Lions their first conference loss of the season, now 9-2 overall and 3-1 in the MIAA.

Both teams were sluggish out of the gate with FHSU holding an early six-point advantage at the 13:32 mark of the first half. A 14-3 MSSU run put the Lions in front 20-15 with 8:54 remaining before halftime and MSSU led by five two more times before FHSU ended the first half on a 16-6 run to take a five-point lead at intermission, 42-37. A James Fleming 3-pointer just before the buzzer capped a 6-0 run by the Tigers at the end of the half.

FHSU would not give the lead back from that point on. MSSU trimmed the lead down to two early in the second half, but FHSU held the Lions off the remainder of the game. The Tigers enjoyed their biggest lead of the game, 12 points, with 9:33 remaining. MSSU applied a bit of pressure by cutting the lead back to six with 5:25 to go, but consecutive layups by Andrew Victoria who had a huge game off the bench pushed the lead back to 10 and the Tigers went on to win by nine.

Victoria and Jake Stoppel came up huge for the Tigers inside as Dwayne Brunson was limited to just five points and was unable to play a good portion of the second half after getting hit hard in the head. Victoria finished with eight points and 10 rebounds, while Stoppel scored a new career-high 14 points (all in the first half).

Craig Nicholson led the Tigers with 22 points, doing half of the damage at the free-throw line where he was a perfect 11-of-11. He helped the Tigers finish 21-of-27 at the free-throw line (77.8 percent). FHSU shot just 43.9 percent from the field and 38.5 percent beyond the 3-point line, but held the second-highest scoring offense in the conference to just 38.8 percent from the field and just 18.8 percent beyond the 3-point line.

Marquis Addison led Missouri Southern with 17 points, followed by Cameron Cornelius with 14 and Jordan Talbert with 13.

The Tigers will face the top scoring offense in the MIAA, Southwest Baptist, on Monday (Jan. 6) in Bolivar, Mo. at 7:30 pm. A win over SBU could vault FHSU back into the thick of the MIAA standings with two home games to follow next week in Hays against Lindenwood and Lincoln.