KEARNEY, Neb. – Nebraska-Kearney edged Fort Hays State 65-62 in a tight battle Tuesday night (Feb. 20). Late miscues by the Tigers aided the Lopers in escaping a game where neither team built more than a six-point lead. FHSU moved to 16-11 overall, 9-9 in the MIAA, while UNK evened the regular season series with FHSU and improved to 14-13 overall, 10-8 in the MIAA.
 
Both teams struggled offensively in the early going as UNK was the first to climb over 10 points at the 12:04 mark of the first half. A 7-0 run by UNK produced its biggest lead of the game, 15-9, with 10:29 to go. But, the Tigers chipped away and took the lead eventually, 26-24, before the count at halftime settled at a 29-29 tie.
 
FHSU had the upper hand early in the second half, coming out of the break on a 6-0 run to build its largest lead of six points, 35-29, at the 17:55 mark. Hadley Gillum opened the scoring with a basket that pushed him over the 1,000-point mark in his career at FHSU. He is the 20^th player in program history to reach 1,000. Gillum scored all 15 of his points on the night after halftime. Brady Werth, who chipped in a pair of baskets in the run, went on to lead the Tigers with 17 points.
 
Even with the early run, the Tigers could not shake the Lopers and the teams battled in a tight contest the rest of the way through. From the 12:43 mark all the way to the end of the game, neither team built a lead larger than four points.
 
Down by three with under a minute to play, UNK fouled Marcus Cooper on a stickback bucket off an offensive rebound. He sunk the free throw to tie the game for the 12^th time, 62-62. Cooper finished the game with 13 points and 12 rebounds for his second double-double of the season.
 
With the game tied, UNK called timeout with 21 seconds remaining to set up offense with the shot clock off. However, on the inbounds, Cooper overplayed the ball and fouled Lane Rohrich, who went to the line and sunk 1-of-2 attempts. FHSU still had a chance to win the game, but Kyler Kinnamon opted to go to the basket with 10 seconds remaining and his running layup attempt was off the mark.
 
Isaiah McKay of UNK went to the free-throw line and dropped a pair of shots, giving UNK a three-point lead. FHSU still had a chance to tie, but Grant Holmes had the ball stolen away beyond the three-point line on the right wing and could not get a potential tying shot off.
 
Fort Hays State shot only 34.9 percent from the field and 27.8 percent beyond the three-point line. UNK was worse beyond the arc at 23.5 percent, but managed to shoot 42.3 percent overall from the field.
 
The Tigers fell for a fifth straight time in Kearney and now Thursday night's game (Feb. 22) against Southwest Baptist will be critical to lock up a first-round home game in the MIAA Tournament. The Tigers, for the time being, slide to eighth in the conference standings. Senior night tip-off is set for 7:30 pm at Gross Memorial Coliseum. Hadley Gillum, the lone senior on the team, will be honored before the game.