Box Score

Craig Nicholson drove the length of the floor and hit a layup with 1.6 seconds remaining to send FHSU to an 80-79 win over Central Oklahoma on Wednesday night (Feb. 26) at Gross Memorial Coliseum in Hays. The Tigers improved to 22-5 overall and 13-5 in the MIAA with the win and secured a first-round bye in the MIAA Tournament in Kansas City.

The Tigers pulled off a late comeback win over the Bronchos for the second time this year, this time down eight with three minutes to go in the game. FHSU forced overtime earlier this year at Central Oklahoma and won in overtime after being down nine with three minutes to play.

The comeback started with a pair of James Fleming free-throws with 2:40 remaining, then a Dwayne Brunson layup led to a Craig Nicholson 3-point play to cut the lead down to just three with 2:15 to play. UCO went on to convert 3-of-4 free-throws to push the lead back to six with 1:36 to go. Carson Konrade made that short lived nailing his fourth 3-point field goal of the game with 1:25 remaining, cutting the margin back to three.

After a missed shot by UCO, Nicholson ran to the other end of the floor, got fouled, and converted two free-throws with 44 seconds remaining, trimming the lead to one. The Gross Memorial Coliseum crowd was at a fever pitch as UCO could not get a good shot away on its final possession of the game and the rebound went out of bound to FHSU with just over seven seconds remaining. That set up the late heroics by Nicholson.

Marty Wendel made a key screen near half court to free Nicholson and he got all the way to the basket for the game-winning layup. Central Oklahoma's heave from halfcourt at the buzzer was off the mark and the Tigers escaped with the win after leading by 10 at halftime.

Nicholson finished with a game-high 25 points on 9-of-16 shooting from the field and a 6-of-6 effort at the free-throw line. He also dished out nine assists. James Fleming had 15 points and Dwayne Brunson finished with a double-double of 11 points and 11 rebounds. Nicholson became just the fourth player in FHSU history to record over 200 assists in a season (now at 203), joining Raymond Lee who did it four times, Mark Wilson who did it twice, and Dominique Jones who did it once. He also extended his single-season free-throws made record at FHSU to 184.

The first half was a struggle for both teams on offense, each shooting below 40 percent. FHSU led by 10 at halftime 37-27. Central Oklahoma caught fire from the field in the second half, going 59.3 percent from the field and 61.5 percent beyond the 3-point line. UCO outshot FHSU from the field overall, but a rebounding margin of 11 for the Tigers (39-28), including 16 offensive rebounds, helped keep the Tigers alive. The game saw eight ties and nine lead changes.

Josh Gibbs led UCO with 22 points and nine rebounds, while Aaron Anderson added 15 and Nic Combs had 13.

Fort Hays State is now just a half game back of third in the MIAA standings, still alone in fourth place. The Tigers can finish no worse than fourth, but pending on what Missouri Southern does in a pair of road games Thursday and Saturday, FHSU could possibly still grab the No. 3 seed in the MIAA Tournament by winning Friday coupled with at least one Missouri Southern loss. Missouri Southern is at Lindenwood Thursday and Lincoln on Saturday.