FHSU Sports Information
Defending national champion and No. 6 ranked Central Missouri pushed past Fort Hays State late for an 80-71 win in Hays on Thursday night (Dec. 4) in Hays. The Mules remained unbeaten on the season, moving to 8-0 overall and 1-0 in the MIAA, while Fort Hays State dropped to 4-3 overall and 0-1 in the MIAA.
The key moment late that gave Central Missouri the cushion it needed was on offensive rebound on a free-throw that led to a three-point field goal by Preston Brunz, pushing UCM’s lead to six with 1:38 to play. UCM went to the line with a two-point lead, made the first free-throw, but got the rebound on the second attempt. The three-point field goal was a dagger the Tigers could not recover from.
In the first half, FHSU used an 8-0 run to take a 31-25 lead at the 4:53 mark after UCM led by as many as five. A James Fleming three-point field goal just before the buzzer put the Tigers up five at halftime, 39-34.
Fort Hays State’s lead grew to seven three times early in the second half, but could not shake the defending national champs. UCM went on a 7-0 run to take the lead back 50-48 with 11:58 to go, but a Craig Nicholson three-pointer put the Tigers back in front. The Tigers held a slim lead all the way to the 8:09 mark, but a layup and a three-point field goal on consecutive trips down the floor by TJ White put UCM up by four with 7:32 to play. The Tigers, though, reeled the Mules back in on a Royce Williams three-point field goal with 3:48 to go to tie the game. That was the last tie as UCM went on a small 4-0 run and then held the Tigers off the rest of the way.
Nicholson led the Tigers in scoring with 19 points, on 5-of-10 shooting and a 7-of-8 effort at the free-throw line. Dom Samac and Royce Williams each had 12 points. Three-point shooting kept the Tigers in the game all night, where they went 12-of-22, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the red-hot overall shooting performance by the Mules.
Central Missouri shot 65.3 percent from the field overall (32-of-49) and 70 percent beyond the 3-point line (7-of-10). TJ White led the Mules with 20 points, followed by Dillon Deck with 17 and Rakeem Dickerson with 14. Preston Brunz added 11. White finished the game 8-of-8 from the field and a perfect 2-of-2 at the free-throw line. Deck was 7-of-10 from the field.
The Tigers look to shake off the loss when they host Missouri Western in another conference game on Saturday (Dec. 6) at 4 pm.