By FHSU SPORTS INFORMATION
WARRENSBURG, Mo. – Fort Hays State held a seven-point lead with 10 minutes to go, but Central Missouri stormed back to remain perfect on its home floor this season with a 28-12 run to close the game. The Mules handed the Tigers their first conference loss of the season by a 63-54 decision on Thursday evening (Jan. 3).
Both teams struggled shooting the ball for the majority of the game, until Central Missouri broke out of the funk in the final 10 minutes of the game. UCM scored just 35 points over the first 30 minutes of the game before dropping in 28 in the final 10. The Mules shot a blistering 73.3 percent (11-of-15) from the field over those final 10 minutes, but shot just 45.1 percent overall for the game.
Fort Hays State bettered its shooting performance in the second half, going 42.9 percent from the field after a rough 29.2 percent effort in the first half. Overall, FHSU finished at just 36.5 percent from the field, hitting just 19-of-52 attempts. It was the worst shooting performance from the field by the Tigers so far this season, their first game under 40 percent this season. FHSU trailed by just two at halftime, 23-21, and enjoyed a seven-point lead three times in the second half before the final push from UCM.
Brady Werth led the Tigers with 14 points and was just one rebound shy of a double-double with nine. Jared Vitztum was also close to a double-double with nine points and nine rebounds. Marcus Cooper was the only other Tiger in double figures scoring besides Werth with 10 points. Kyler Kinnamon dished out a team-high four assists.
Jakob Lowrance and James Byrd led the Central Missouri scoring effort, each with 14. Lowrance helped keep the Mules afloat in the first half, scoring 12 of the team’s 23 points before the break. UCM received only 34 points from its starting lineup, while Lowrance and Byrd proved to be huge difference makers off the bench.
The loss ran Fort Hays State’s losing streak in true road games to five dating back to last season.