By RAEGAN NEUFELD
Tiger Media Network
The Fort Hays men’s basketball team finished its regular season with a solid 80-67 win over Nebraska-Kearney on Friday.
The game started close. Neither team led by more than four points until right before halftime when the Tigers ended the first 20 minutes on an eight-point run to go up 37-28. They continued to build and maintain that lead after the break. The Lopers closed the gap to nine points once, but otherwise, FHSU led by double figures for the rest of the game.
“We set the tempo against each team we play defensively,” senior Jaheim Holden said. “Some nights we don’t come out as good as we’re supposed to and then there’s other nights when we come out and we’re locked in. So I think it’s just the ability to be locked in, or starting to be locked in throughout the game and adjusting to the gameplay.”
Holden finished the game with 19 points, just behind fellow senior Elijah Nnanabu, who scored a game-high 23. Nnanabu also pulled down 10 rebounds for his second double-double this season. The two were recognized along with Bjarni Jonsson prior to the game for senior night.
“I’m happy that our seniors Elijah and Jaheim had really good games tonight,” FHSU Head Coach Mark Johnson said. “Bjarni statistically might not have had big numbers, but what he does to help us win, he did again tonight. Defense, hustle, all those things that matter.”
Although UNK (5-22, 2-20) shot 46.4% from the field, the Tigers (22-6, 17-5) were better, shooting 48.5%. This was an improvement from 38.5% against Missouri Southern last Saturday and 33.9% against Pittsburg State last Thursday.
“(Our opponents) have been hot from three to start the game, but we’ve got to do a little bit better job and get on them early and make it a little harder on them, but keep running good offense,” Johnson said. “I thought tonight we ran one of our better nights of offense.”
According to Holden, one of the team’s strengths going into the conference tournament is its ability to create shots.
“With the guards that we have and our bigs being athletic and versatile, it opens up the floor for a lot of guys like Elijah, Kaleb and me, and RJ being able to shoot the ball and Shaun being able to make reads and score around the rim,” he said. “It just opens the floor for us offensively.”
FHSU has secured the no. 2 seed in the MIAA Tournament this week and will play either no. 7 Emporia State or no. 10 Lincoln. The big focus for the Tigers will be what’s gotten them to this point so far.
“We’ve got to execute and defend,” Nnanabu said. “We’ve got to defend like every game’s our last game pretty much, and rebound and make every shot tough so nothing’s easy. We cannot make anything easy. I think that’s our main focus, and just playing together, playing smart.”
The Tigers’ first game of the tournament will be at 8:15 p.m. on Thursday at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City.
You must be logged in to post a comment.