Fort Hays State evened its overall record for the season by defeating Bethel 103-54 on Saturday afternoon (Nov. 22) in Hays. The Tigers led by 39 at halftime, then outscored the Threshers by 10 in the second half. FHSU is now 2-2 overall.
Bethel challenged FHSU for the first four minutes of the game, as FHSU led 13-10 after a Bethel basket at the 15:43 mark. From that point, it was all Tigers as FHSU went on a 22-0 run to push its lead to 35-10 and never looked back. An 11-0 burst later in the half pushed the lead to 59-18 and the Tigers eventually led 61-22 at the break.
In the first half, James Fleming had the hot hand with 18 points, shooting 8-of-8 from the field. He finished the game with that same amount, but missed a field goal attempt in the second half. Craig Nicholson had 11 assists at halftime and finished the game with 12 after seeing just a little bit of time at the start of the second half with the game well at hand. The Tigers shot a red-hot 62.9 percent from the field before intermission.
Achoki Moikobu scored 11 second-half points and went on to tie Fleming for high-point honors in the game with 18. He drained 4-of-6 3-point field goal attempts in the game, while Fleming had two 3-pointers, combining for six of FHSU’s seven makes from beyond the arc. Dom Samac also finished in double figures, scoring all 11 of his points in the first half.Jeremy Wilson and Jared Tadlock tied for a team-high five rebounds.
The Tigers scored a whopping 68 points off the bench, thanks to a big halftime lead. FHSU scored 38 points in the paint for the second straight game and had 22 points off turnovers.
The Tigers turn their focus to a road contest at Newman University on Tuesday night (Nov. 25). Tip is set for 7:30 pm at Fugate Gymnasium in Wichita. Newman enters the game at 2-0 overall after wins over Emporia State and Washburn at home.