HAYS, Kan. – Fort Hays State held on for a 68-66 win over MSU Denver on Sunday (Nov. 20) at Gross Memorial Coliseum. The Tigers had a 10-point lead with eight minutes remaining in the game, but had to hold off a late charge from the Roadrunners to move to 3-1 on the season. MSU Denver fell to 2-2.
 
Fort Hays State held the lead the majority of the first half until MSU Denver went up by one on a pair of free throws just before the half. Seven points was the largest lead for the Tigers in the opening frame, reached on a three-point play by Gabe Pieschl with just over seven minutes to go before the break.
 
The Tigers scored first in the second half to take the lead back, but the Roadrunners jumped back ahead by one with 17:40 remaining. Bjarni Jonsson put the Tigers in front for good on a jumper in the paint with 16:53 remaining. Jonsson's bucket sparked an 8-0 run by the Tigers to go up seven. The Tiger lead fluctuated between five and nine points all the way to a Traejon Davis bucket that put the Tigers up 10 with just over eight minutes to play.
 
The Roadrunners tightened the margin down to three with a 7-0 run in about a two-minute span. They had it down to two with 4:35 remaining, but the Tigers used a 6-0 burst to go back up by eight with 2:43 to go. MSU Denver countered with another 7-0 run getting the Tiger lead down to one with just seven seconds remaining. Kaleb Hammeke went to the line to bury a pair on a crucial 1-and-1 situation, then the Tigers elected to foul near half court with three seconds remaining. Brayden Maldonado of MSU Denver hit his first free throw, then missed. The Roadrunners picked up the rebound, missed a shot from the right baseline, and even missed a tip-in attempt before the final horn sounded allowing FHSU to escape with a two-point win.
 
Fort Hays State did the majority of its offensive damage around the basket, scoring 44 points in the paint. Only two of Fort Hays State's 24 baskets inside the 3-point arc were outside of the paint, a top of the key bucket by Hammeke and a turnaround jumper with the shot clock horn sounding by Jonsson. The Tigers scored 48 points on 2-point shots, just six on a pair of 3-point makes, and were 14-of-16 at the free-throw line (87.5 percent).
 
Elijah Nnanabu led the scoring effort for FHSU with 14 points on 6-of-16 shooting from the field and a pair of free throws. Iyen Enaruna had 13, doing over half his damage at the free-throw line where he was 7-of-8. Hammeke had 12 and Jonsson finished with 10. The starting lineup accounted for 54 of the team's 68 points. Enaruna led in rebounds with six and Hammeke led in assists with four, and both had a team-high three steals.
 
Caleb McGill led the Roadrunners with 22 points, going 8-of-17 from the field and 4-of-4 at the free-throw line. Jaden Kennis added 12 and Tyrei Randall had 11. MSU Denver became the first team to score at least 60 on FHSU this season, but was held well under its season average entering the game of 82.3 per game.
 
The Tiger men return to action on Tuesday night (Nov. 22) when they host Central Christian (Kan.) College at 7 p.m. inside Gross Memorial Coliseum.