Fort Hays State used a quick burst of scoring in the second half to pull away from South Dakota School of Mines, winning 91-62 on Thursday night (Jan. 22) at Gross Memorial Coliseum. The Tigers won their fourth consecutive game and moved to 12-6 overall, while South Dakota School of Mines dropped to 7-14 overall.

A win looked as though it would be tough for the Tigers in the first 25 minutes of the game. FHSU opened the game on a 7-0 run, but the offense suddenly went cold allowing the Hardrockers to tie the game 9-9 just under 12 minutes to play in the first half. The Hardrockers took their first lead, 12-11, at the 8:59 mark, but was quickly erased by a Royce Williams 3-point play to put the Tigers back in front. South Dakota Mines would lead three more times in the first half, but Fort Hays State pulled ahead by three at the half, 32-29, as goaltending was whistled on James Fleming's layup at the buzzer.

Fleming opened the second half by burying a 3-pointer and Jake Stoppel had a layup to push the FHSU lead to eight, but the Hardrockers had an answer again, going on a 10-2 run to tie the game once again at 39-39 with 15:44 to go.

The offense finally came alive out of a timeout called by head coach Mark Johnson, who coached in his 400th game at FHSU, now with a record of 280-120 (.700 win percentage). The Tigers went on a 13-0 run in a matter of 2:43. A three-point field goal by SDSMT was all that put a hiccup in a larger 22-3 run by the Tigers, allowing the lead to grow to 19 by the 10:36 mark. A 13-3 run pushed the lead to 27 with 6:40 remaining. The largest lead was 32 points with 53 seconds remaining when Tomislav Gabric went on an 8-point run with back-to-back 3-point field goals and a layup. SDSMT scored the final three points of the game to bring the final margin to 29. FHSU was blazing hot late, scoring 52 points of its 59 second-half points over the final 15:44 of the game.

Williams tied with a team-high 18 points on 7-of-11 shooting, which included a 3-of-5 effort from beyond the 3-point line, and 1-of-1 at the charity stripe. Fleming also finished with 18 points, going 5-of-7 from the field, including a 2-of-2 effort beyond the arc, and 6-of-7 at the free-throw line. With his late scoring burst, Gabric also reached double figures with 12 points in the game.

Achoki Moikobu was just a point shy of a double-double, scoring nine points and dishing out 10 assists. All 10 of his assists were in the second half, helping the Tigers shoot an amazing 75.9 percent (22-of-29) from the field after halftime. FHSU had just two assists as a team at the half, but recorded 16 in the second half for a total of 18. FHSU shot 58.6 percent overall for the game, including 61.5 percent beyond the 3-point line (8-of-13).

Also finishing just shy of double figures in scoring were Nick Capiti and Jake Stoppel, each with nine. Jeremy Wilson recorded a team-high six rebounds.

Brian Orr led the Hardrockers in scoring with 11 points, followed by Konor Kulas with 10.

The Tigers look to catch yet another team in the MIAA standings on Saturday when they host Pittsburg State at 4 pm. FHSU is 5-4 in MIAA play, while Pittsburg State is 6-3. Lindenwood is the only team remaining in the conference with less than three losses, leading at 7-2. FHSU is just two games back of the lead in the conference. Seven teams are currently within two games of the lead in the conference standings.

University Bookstore Discount
For the game, Fort Hays State hit 8 3-point field goals. As a result, you can take advantage of a 24% discount at the University Bookstore all day Friday (Jan. 23).
Valid on 1/23/15 only.  May not be combined with any other offer. Valid in-store and on FHSU clothes and gift items only. Excludes textbooks, gift cards, diploma frames, previous purchases, calculators, computer supplies/hardware/software, and professional reference. Void where prohibited by law. See store for details. Discount is only available the next business day following a home double-header FHSU basketball game.
FHSU Virtual College students must enter the code phrase (Roll Tiges) in the comments section when finalizing your online purchase at: http://www.fhsushop.com