By FHSU SPORTS INFORMATION
WEATHERFORD, Okla. – Fort Hays State picked up its first win of the 2022-23 season on Saturday (Nov. 12) with a 58-49 win over Arkansas Tech. The Tigers moved to 1-1 on the season, while the Wonder Boys dropped to 0-2.
Fort Hays State trailed only a couple of times early in the first half before overtaking Arkansas Tech with a 7-0 burst for a 13-9 lead. The Tigers held onto the lead the remainder of the first half, leading by as many as nine at 23-14 before the Wonder Boys closed the first half on an 8-2 run to make the halftime margin 25-22.
The Tiger lead grew to 11 twice within the first seven minutes of the second half, but Arkansas Tech chipped away with a 10-0 run to get back within one with 7:25 to go. Arkansas Tech climbed back to even with the Tigers on a Taelon Peter 3-point field goal with 4:44 to play, but Kaleb Hammeke answered with a three of his own at the 4:16 mark to put the Tigers back in front for good.
The Hammeke triple sparked a 12-2 run for the Tigers to get their lead back to 10 with 1:56 to play, capped by a 3-point field goal from Gabe Pieschl. Elijah Nnanabu sealed the win by hitting all four of his free-throw attempts in the final 20 seconds of the game.
A big factor in the Tiger win was the free-throw line, where the Tigers went 23-of-25 (92 percent). Hammeke, Pieschl, Nnanabu, Traejon Davis, and Bjarni Jonsson were all perfect on their charity stripe attempts. The Tigers outscored the Wonder Boys by 13 points at the free-throw line. Arkansas Tech was 10-of-14 at the line. Both teams made 16 field goals in the game, but ATU had the edge in 3-point field goal makes 7-3.
The Tigers forced the Wonder Boys into 21 turnovers, including 10 on steals. FHSU scored 20 points off turnovers.
Hammeke led the Tigers with 23 points, going 6-of-11 from the field and 10-of-10 at the free-throw line. Pieschl had nine points, Jonsson had seven, and Nnanabu and Davis each had six. Hammeke and Davis tied for a team-high six rebounds and Hammeke led in assists with five.
Andre Leavell led the ATU scoring effort with 16 points, while Wes Harris had a team-high six rebounds. Leavell also led his squad in assists with four.
The Tigers play their first home contest of the season on Thursday night (Nov. 17) when they play host to Bethel College at 7 p.m. inside Gross Memorial Coliseum.
Friday
WEATHERFORD, Okla. – Fort Hays State Men’s Basketball made a big second half comeback, but Southwestern Oklahoma State did enough late to escape on its home floor by a score of 59-56 on Friday evening (Nov. 11) in the season opener for both squads. The Tigers trailed by 16 at the half, rallied all the way back to take a one-point lead inside three minutes to play, but could not cash in key opportunities late to finish the comeback.
Both teams struggled out of the gate offensively. Only a total of five points were scored between the teams in the first five and a half minutes. The Tigers led 9-8 seven minutes into the contest, but saw the Bulldogs close the first half on a 29-12 run and trailed 37-21 at the half. The Tigers did not have any players score more than four points in the opening half and struggled to 11 first-half turnovers.
The Tigers made the first bucket of the second half before the Bulldogs canned another three to lead by 17. However, the Tigers went on a furious rally from that point to make the game interesting over the final 10 minutes.
The Tigers used a 19-3 run between the 18:27 and 10:56 marks to cut the deficit to just one at 43-42. A quick 6-0 burst for SWOSU had the margin back to seven, but FHSU chipped away again to get back within one with 5:17 to play. Then after just over two minutes of scoreless action, the Tigers moved back into the lead when Gabe Pieschlscored on a stick back with 2:53 to go.
The Bulldogs were able to escape with a win due to their free-throw shooting down the stretch. A pair put them back in front by one with 1:06 to go, but Elijah Nnanabuanswered with a driving layup to put the Tigers back up one with 50 seconds to play. SWOSU found a way to get to the free-throw line again and made both, then the Tigers were unable to hit a shot and SWOSU went up three on another pair of free throws. The Tigers had a chance to tie at the buzzer, but a 3-point shot fell off the mark.
Kaleb Hammeke led the Tiger scoring effort with 12 points, following by Nnanabu and Pieschl each with 10. Pieschl hauled in a career-high 13 rebounds for a double-double, while Iyen Enaruna pulled down 10 in his Tiger debut.
Kamden Gipson and Ben Smith shared high-scoring honors for SWOSU with 13 each. Victor Ihrihri had 12 and Chris Braggs, Jr. added 11.
FHSU had four more field goals made than SWOSU. The Bulldogs made up for it by making nine 3-point field goals compared to just two by the Tigers. SWOSU hit 14 free throws compared to 10 for FHSU.