HAYS, Kan. – Fort Hays State evened its regular season series with Nebraska-Kearney on Saturday (Jan. 30), pulling away in the second half for a 79-68 win at Gross Memorial Coliseum. The Tigers hit 13 3-point field goals, a new season high as a team, including seven from leading scorer Jordan Pumphrey who had a career-high 25 points. FHSU moved to 5-8, while UNK went to 5-9.
 
Pumphrey went 7-of-9 beyond the 3-point line and added a couple of buckets inside the arc, producing a career high in points for the second-straight game. After scoring a team-high 19 at Pittsburg State, Pumphrey went past that mark by six points on Saturday for his first 20-plus point game as a Tiger. He was 9-of-11 overall from the field. Pumphrey was the first Tiger with seven 3-point field goals in a game since Aaron Nicholson had seven against Emporia State on January 16, 2019.
 
Jared Vitztum also went past the 20-point mark for the Tigers, scoring 22, while pulling down a team-high six rebounds. Kaleb Hammeke was the only other Tiger in double figures with 12, while Quinten Rock dished out a team-best eight assists. FHSU had 23 assists as a team on 30 made field goals. FHSU finished at 52.6 percent from the field for the game and 50 percent beyond the 3-point line (13-of-26).
 
The first half was a close battle throughout as a six-point lead by UNK was the largest by either team. In a half that saw seven lead changes and four ties, FHSU moved ahead 35-33 at halftime as Vitztum hit a 3-point field goal with a few ticks left on the clock.
 
In the second half, the Tigers reached a six-point lead early before UNK went on a 9-0 run to take the lead back by three. Pumphrey snapped that run with his fifth 3-pointer of the game, knotting the score at 49-49 with 12:20 to play. The Tigers eventually put the hammer down with a 17-1 run from the 9:33 to 3:24 marks and the lead was never lower than nine points the rest of the way. During the run, FHSU went 7-of-11 from the field, while holding UNK 0-of-6 with four turnovers.
 
Austin Luger led the Lopers with 18 points, followed by Jake Walker with 17 and RJ Pair with 12.
 
The Tigers have two more home games on the schedule next week as Newman and Central Oklahoma are scheduled to come to Hays (Feb. 4 and Feb. 6).