Fort Hays State has three games remaining in the regular season, all on the road. The road stretch begins Saturday (Feb. 21) at Nebraska-Kearney with tipoff set for 7:30 pm. The Tigers are just one game back of fifth in the MIAA standings, currently occupied by the Lopers.
Fort Hays State (16-9, 9-7 MIAA) looks to chase down Nebraska-Kearney (15-8, 10-6 MIAA) in the race for MIAA Tournament seeding as the regular season sits on the eve of its final week. The Tigers are still mathematically alive for a first-round bye, but will likely need to win all three games remaining on the road and get some help to earn a spot among the top four teams. FHSU is currently tied for sixth in the standings with Central Oklahoma and Missouri Southern. Seeds 5 through 8 will host first-round home games on Monday, March 2, against seeds 9 through 12.
Fort Hays State defeated Nebraska-Kearney in the first meeting of the season, an 88-77 triumph in Hays. The win gave FHSU nine wins in the last 10 meetings with UNK. However, the one win for UNK was last year in Kearney by a count of 90-83. FHSU has won both meetings since that game.
The Tigers look to step up their play on the road, just 3-6 overall outside of Gross Memorial Coliseum this year. FHSU is 3-4 so far in true road games, while the other two losses were on a neutral court. FHSU closes out the regular season next week with road contests at Central Oklahoma and Northeastern State.
James Fleming is coming off another great offensive performance. He scored a team-high 22 points in the win over Washburn on Wednesday, draining a career-high six 3-point field goals. He has reached double figures in four straight contests, bookended by 23 and 22-point performances. He is now averaging 9.7 points per game.
Dom Samac has also been a force, scoring in double figures the last four games. He started the run with a pair of 25-point performances against Nebraska-Kearney and Emporia State. He leads active Tigers in scoring at 11.0 points per game.
Royce Williams and
Achoki Moikobu each average 10.2 points per game.
