Box Score

Fort Hays State held off upset-minded Nebraska-Kearney on Saturday (Feb. 22) at Gross Memorial Coliseum in Hays by a score of 78-72. The Tigers moved to 21-5 overall and 12-5 in the MIAA with the win. FHSU maintained its one-game lead for fourth place in the conference, critical for securing a first-round bye for the MIAA Tournament in two weeks.

Fort Hays State built a 12-point lead in the first half by the 6:49 mark and looked to be taking control early, but the rival Lopers would not go quietly, outscoring the Tigers 18-11 the remainder of the half. That trimmed the lead to just five at halftime (41-36).

Nebraska-Kearney, now 12-12 overall and 8-9 in the MIAA, kept chipping away, cutting the lead to two points three times early in the second half before finally overtaking the Tigers by one on an Ethan Brozek 3-point play with 15:16 remaining in the game.

The teams traded the lead by one before FHSU went on an 11-0 run to push its lead back out to 10 with 9:02 to go. But UNK had a quick 5-0 burst to keep the game close the rest of the way. The Lopers trimmed the lead down to one on a 3-point field goal with 4:39 to go, but Craig Nicholson responded with a 3-point play the old fashioned way to push the lead back to four.

The Lopers held tough, cutting the lead to two twice more, making the Tigers earn it down the stretch. Nicholson rose to the occasion, driving inside to knife a layup in and get fouled in the process. Converting the free-throw on another 3-point play extended the lead to five points with 1:02 to go. From that point, FHSU hit five of its final six free-throw attempts to hold off the Lopers.

Jake Stoppel, who had a big first half of 11 points, finished with a team-high 18 for the Tigers. Nicholson with just two at halftime, scored 15 in the second half to finish with 17 for the game. He set a new FHSU single-season record for free-throws made, now with 178 on the season. Tied with the record of 169 going into the game, set by Mark Wilson, he buried 9-of-10 free-throws to now sit atop the list with 178 and counting. James Fleming went 7-of-8 at the line in the game and finished with 13 points, while Carson Konrade added 10 points.

Mike Dentlinger led the Lopers with 22 points, while Ethan Brozek added 20. Davion Pearson also reached double figures with 11.

Both teams were rock-solid from the free-throw line, FHSU at 92.3 percent (24-of-26) and UNK at 90 percent (27-of-30). FHSU finished 47.3 percent from the field, while holding UNK to 39.2 percent.

The FHSU win coupled with a Central Oklahoma win on Saturday has now set up a huge match-up on Wednesday in Hays with bye for the first round of the MIAA Tournament on the line. FHSU (12-5 MIAA) currently leads UCO (11-6) by one game in the conference standings. A win by FHSU would guarantee the bye, but a UCO win would tie the teams in the MIAA standings with one game remaining in conference play for each team. FHSU defeated UCO earlier this year in overtime in Edmond. If the teams tie in the conference standings at the end of the regular season, UCO would own the tiebreaker for the bye by virtue of a win over conference-leading Northwest Missouri State earlier this year, while FHSU did not defeat NWMSU. FHSU would be mathematically clear of UCO with a win Wednesday.