Tigers Travel to Oklahoma for Final Week of Regular Season; Face UCO on Thursday

Fort Hays State University men’s basketball closes the 2014-15 regular season with two games in Oklahoma, starting with Central Oklahoma on Thursday in Edmond. The Tigers and Bronchos are set to tip off at 7:30 p.m. at Hamilton Field House. FHSU enters at 16-10 overall, 9-8 in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association, while UCO enters at 17-9 overall, 10-7 in the MIAA.

FHSU looks to grab home court advantage for the first round of the MIAA Tournament, which begins next Monday. FHSU is currently alone in eighth place in the MIAA standings, just a half game up on Washburn. The top four seeds in the tournament get byes to Kansas City for the quarterfinals of the tournament, while seeds 5 through 8 will host first round games on Monday against seeds 9 through 12. FHSU has already clinched a spot in the tournament, but looks to keep from falling below eighth place in the standings.

If FHSU wins both games this week, they will secure at least a first-round home game in the MIAA Tournament on Monday. However, a 1-1 or 0-2 record on the week could result in the Tigers playing a road game in the first round, pending the outcome of other games. FHSU is currently one game back of Central Oklahoma in the conference standings, looking to pull into a tie for seventh or better with one game to play.

The Tigers won the first meeting with Central Oklahoma this season by a score of 82-72 in Hays on January 15. During that game point guard Craig Nicholson was lost for the season to injury. Since that game, the Tigers have went 6-4 overall. The Tigers have won four of the last five meetings with UCO.

Dom Samac continues to lead active Tigers in scoring at 10.8 points per game. Also in double figures are Achoki Moikobu (10.2) and Royce Williams (10.0). James Fleming has scored in double figures five consecutive games and has his average up to 9.8 per game.