WICHITA, Kan. – Fort Hays State put an end to its four-game slide in road games on Saturday (Feb. 15) with a 76-68 win at Newman University at Fugate Gymnasium. Kaleb Hammeke led the Tigers to victory with a season-high 32-point performance. The Tigers improved to 16-8 overall and 9-6 in the MIAA, while the Jets moved to 13-12 overall and 6-10 in the MIAA.
 
Hammeke fast-tracked his way to a big day of scoring the basketball with 10 of Fort Hays State's first 12 points of the game. He had 12 points by halftime and then dropped 20 in the second half to finish with 32. It was his first 30-point game since scoring 35 at Missouri Southern on February 18, 2023 during the 2022-23 season. It was the fifth game of 30 or more points in Hammeke's career, falling just four shy of his career high of 36.
 
The first half was a back-and-forth battle with neither team leading by more than five points. The scoring pace was up tempo early as the teams played to an 18-18 tie over the first 7:30 of action. However, the Tigers were able to slow the game down into their typical pace of play and only 16 points were scored between the teams the rest of the half. Newman held a 27-25 lead at the break.
 
The Tigers flipped the game in their favor right out of the break, going on a 9-0 run to take a seven-point lead of 34-27. FHSU held onto its lead the remainder of the game, but had to fight off several bursts by Newman. The Jets cut the lead to three twice before an 8-1 run by the Tigers pushed the lead to 10. The Jets chipped it back to five twice before the Tigers pushed it to 10 again with 7:08 to play. The Jets immediately answered with a pair of 3-point field goals, getting the margin down to four, but Kaleb Hammeke had the answer to get it back to nine after splashing a pair of 3-point field goals from the right wing. He then made a pair of free throws to get the lead to 11, FHSU's largest, with 2:52 to play. Six points was all the closer Newman could get the rest of the way.
 
Kaleb Hammeke finished 11-of-18 from the field and a perfect 8-of-8 at the free-throw line, playing all 40 minutes of the game. He also dished out a team-high five assists. Dan Mukuna matched his career-high in points with 16 off the bench, going 7-of-11 from the field. Traejon Davis finished with nine points and Lucas Hammeke added eight off the bench. FHSU shot 47.4 percent from the field as a team and held Newman to 38.6 percent.
 
Aaron Murphy led Newman with 21 points, while Thatcher McClure had 11 and Jayden Schoen had 10.
 
Fort Hays State will now play three-straight games at home with only four games remaining in the regular season overall. The Tigers play host to Missouri Southern on Thursday (Feb. 20) and then Pittsburg State on Saturday (Feb. 22).