Fort Hays State held off a second-half rally by Missouri Southern on Saturday (Jan. 3) for an 80-70 win in Hays. FHSU was up 12 at halftime, but saw its lead cut down to two points with just under seven minutes to play before holding off MSSU down the stretch. The Tigers moved to 8-4 overall and 2-2 in the MIAA with the win, while the Lions fell to 8-5 overall and 2-2 in the MIAA.

Fort Hays State trailed only once in the game briefly at 3-2 in the opening minutes before a Royce Williams layup at 18:19 put the Tigers back in front the rest of the way. Fort Hays State went on an 8-0 run from 4:42 to the 2:45 mark to push its lead to 14, the largest of the game, before leading by 12 at halftime.

The Tigers pushed the lead back to 14 with 14:58 to go but could never pull away from the Lions. Down by 10, Missouri Southern went on a 10-2 run from 9:42 to 6:48 remaining to cut the FHSU lead all the way down to two at 60-58. A Dom Samac layup pushed the lead back to four at the 6:22 mark and a pair of Achoki Moikobu free-throws pushed the lead to six. MSSU pulled within four two more times before a Royce Williams three-point field goal with 4:11 to go pushed the advantage to seven and MSSU could never get closer than five the rest of the way.

Free-throw shooting kept the Lions in the game, where they went 29-of-33 in the game (87.9 percent). The majority of the free-throws came from Taevaunn Prince, who posted a monster double-double for the Lions of 38 points and 14 rebounds. He canned 18-of-21 free-throw attempts and went 9-of-19 from the field. As a team, MSSU only shot 31.6 percent from the field for the game, including a dismal 5-of-24 beyond the 3-point line (20.8 percent).

Craig Nicholson led FHSU with a near triple-double performance of 21 points, nine rebounds, and seven assists. The nine rebounds were a career-high for the FHSU point guard. He was 6-of-10 from the field overall, including a 3-of-5 effort beyond the 3-point line, and 6-of-10 at the free-throw line. Royce Williams had a near double-double of 18 points and eight rebounds, going 6-of-12 from the field with one 3-point field goal and a 5-of-7 effort at the charity stripe. Dom Samac finished 6-of-12 from the field for 12 points. Jeremy Wilson finished the game with eight points and eight rebounds.

As a team, FHSU shot 44.6 percent overall and just 25 percent beyond the 3-point line (5-of-20). The Tigers also struggled a bit from the free-throw line, where they went 17-of-25 (68 percent).

Fort Hays State will host Southwest Baptist in another MIAA contest on Monday night (Jan. 5) at 7:30 pm in Hays. SBU sits at 6-7 overall and 1-3 in the MIAA.

University Bookstore Discount
For the game, Fort Hays State hit 5 3-point field goals. As a result, you can take advantage of a 15% discount at the University Bookstore all day Monday (Jan. 5).
Valid on 1/5/15 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