HAYS, Kan. – Fort Hays State led from start to finish, coasting past Southwest Baptist in its final regular season game at Gross Memorial Coliseum Thursday night (Feb. 22). The Tigers won 70-52, moving to 17-11 overall and 10-9 in the MIAA. SBU dropped to 12-15 overall, 6-12 in the MIAA.
 
The Tigers opened the game on a 12-4 run and then really turned on the jets at the end of the half with a 15-2 run. The burst pushed their lead to 20, 43-23 at halftime.
 
The margin of lead remained at 20 or more for nearly the remainder of the game, coming back to 18 on Southwest Baptist's last bucket of the game with 13 seconds remaining. Fort Hays State's largest lead of the game was 27, 63-36 at 7:47 remaining in the game.
 
Hadley Gillum had a solid Senior Night at the coliseum nearly recording a double-double with 12 points and nine rebounds. He also chipped in a team-best four assists.
 
Brady Werth led the Tigers with 19 points and Marcus Cooper added 18. They also were close to double-doubles, Cooper with nine rebounds and Werth with eight.
 
Logan Hovey was the only SBU player to reach double figures with 13 points. Karim Mouliom pulled down a team-best seven rebounds for SBU.
 
The Tigers have locked up a first round MIAA Tournament game at home, but now wait to see what seed they will receive after the final conference games finish on Saturday. Information on how to purchase tickets for the opening round home game will be available soon.