Fort Hays State pushed its win streak to four games with a 92-54 win over Sterling College on Saturday (Nov. 29) in Hays. The Tigers moved to 4-2 overall on the year and will enter MIAA play next week at home.
A hot shooting Sterling team pushed Fort Hays State early. The Warriors never led in the game, but tied the game twice inside 10 minutes to go in the first half before FHSU used a 12-0 run to push its lead to 13 points with 2:17 before halftime. The lead grew as large as 14 before the break, but Sterling cut back into the margin and FHSU led 43-33 at the half.
The Tigers quickly put any doubt to rest, opening the second half on a 10-0 run to build a 20-point lead at 53-33, and then followed a pair of Sterling free-throws with a 9-0 run to make the margin 27 at 62-35. FHSU cruised the rest of the way, leading by as much as 39 with 1:26 to go.
Craig Nicholson hit a major milestone early in the second half, scoring the 1,000th point of his career a free-throw on an old-fashioned 3-point play at 19:14. He became the 18th player in FHSU men’s basketball history to reach 1,000 points in their career, the last being Corbin Kuntzsch in 2011. Nicholson finished the game with 14 points and dished out four assists.
Jared Tadlock led FHSU in scoring with 16 points on 7-of-10 shooting from the field and a 2-of-2 effort at the free-throw line. Royce Williams finished with 14 points, hitting four 3-point field goals in the game, and James Fleming finished with 13 points, also hitting four 3-point field goals. Jake Stoppel and Dom Samac tied for a team-high five rebounds each, and Achoki Moikobu and Williams each had a team-high five assists.
The Tigers enter MIAA play on Thursday night, hosting the defending national champion Central Missouri at Gross Memorial Coliseum. Tip-off is set for 7:30 pm. Central Missouri (6-0) is currently ranked No. 10 in the nation and is coming off a pair of thrilling overtime victories over Thanksgiving week. Tuesday the Mules defeated Quincy in overtime 90-84 at the Sprint Center in Kansas City, then defeated Arkansas-Fort Smith 111-106 in triple overtime at home on Saturday. UCM plays Tabor College on Sunday before heading to Hays for the MIAA opener on Thursday night.