Fort Hays State moved to 3-2 overall with a hard-fought 82-75 at Newman University on Tuesday evening (Nov. 25) in Wichita, Kan. A 6-0 run with just over six minutes to play pushed the Tigers to a 10-point advantage and they held on down the stretch.
A 9-0 run by the Jets early in the first half helped push them to an eight-point advantage of 20-12, but the Tigers reeled them in with a 12-3 run between the 9:56 and 3:21 marks. The teams traded leads the remainder of the half, with FHSU going ahead 41-39 on a buzzer-beating three-quarter court shot by Achoki Moikobu.
FHSU pushed its lead to six to open the second half, but Newman came back to take a 48-47 lead with 16:28 to go. But the Tigers countered with a Dom Samac stick back off a rebound and a Moikobu 3-point field goal to take a four-point lead. FHSU would not relinquish the lead from that point, although Newman continued to apply pressure. The 6-0 run that happened with just over six minutes to play pushed the Tiger lead to 10 and Newman could not cut it closer than five the rest of the way.
Jake Stoppel and Dom Samac had hard-nose effort for the Tigers on the glass, combining for 23 rebounds. Each had a double-double, Stoppel 11 points and 12 rebounds, Samac with 14 points and 11 rebounds.
Craig Nicholson led the Tigers with 25 points on 9-of-18 shooting from the field and a 5-of-10 effort at the free-throw line. He also added a team-high seven assists. Moikobu also reached double figures in scoring with 14 points, canning three 3-point field goals in the game.
The Tigers shot 47.8 percent from the field for the game and hit six three-point field goals. The Tigers had an uncharacteristic poor effort at the free-throw line of 54.5 percent (12-of-22), but still overcame it by holding the Jets to 39 percent shooting from the field and 28.6 percent beyond the 3-point line.
The Tigers return home to host Sterling College on Saturday (Nov. 29) at 4 pm in Hays.