Fort Hays State fell in its season-opening game to Upper Iowa on Friday (Nov. 14) by a score of 86-83 in Maryville, Mo. In a back-and-forth battle, free-throws down the stretch allowed Upper Iowa to hold off FHSU, even though UIU struggled mightily at the line earlier in the game.
The game was tight throughout with 12 ties and 16 lead changes. Fort Hays State’s last lead occurred with 3:55 remaining in the game on a pair of Jake Stoppel free-throws to go up 76-74. But soon after, Upper Iowa tied the game on a Jimmy Roth layup and took the lead for good with 2:39 remaining on a Carson Parker layup to go up 78-76.
FHSU had a chance to tie the game with 14 seconds remaining, but Craig Nicholson was only able to make one of two free-throw attempts to leave the Tigers a point short at 82-81. It was Nicholson’s only miss at the line in the game, where he went 6-of-7. Jace Hanna put the Peacocks up three with nine seconds remaining on a pair of free-throws, but Nicholson countered with a quick layup to make it 84-83 with four seconds remaining. Hanna was clutch again at the line for the Peacocks, burying two more free-throws and a Nicholson 3-point shot at the buzzer was off the mark.
The Tigers were solid at the free-throw line, starting where it left off last season in a year that saw them shoot 78.9 percent from the line as a team. FHSU shot 88.5 percent at the line in the game, hitting 23-of-26 attempts. Upper Iowa shot only 65.8 percent at the line, but reached the charity stripe 38 times, making 25.
Upper Iowa was able to hang with the Tigers all game with 3-point shooting as it buried nine attempts, led by Josh Weeber with four. FHSU had two more field goals in the game, but shot just 42.4 percent from the field compared to 48.1 for UIU.
Nicholson finished the game with a team-high 24 points and seven assists. Division I transfers Dom Samac and Royce Williams combined for 22 points in their debuts, Samac with 12 and Williams with 10. Tomislav Gabric had nine points and four steals. Williams and Jake Stoppel each had eight rebounds in the game.
Roth led the Peacocks with 18 points on 7-of-11 shooting. Weeber had 16, Hanna had 14, Parker had 13, and Grant Lang had 11. Hanna had a team-high seven assists. Jordan Hay pulled down a team-high nine rebounds.
The Tigers return to action at Bearcat Arena in Maryville once again on Saturday. They face Minnesota State-Moorhead at 1:30 pm.