Fort Hays State poured in 21 points over the final five minutes and 11 seconds of an 88-77 win over rival Nebraska-Kearney on Thursday night (Feb. 5) at Gross Memorial Coliseum in Hays. The Tigers moved to 14-8 overall and 7-6 in the MIAA with the win, pulling within a game of the Lopers in the standings. UNK dropped to 13-7 overall and 8-5 in the MIAA.
The game had an odd start as Fort Hays State was assessed a technical foul for a pregame warmup infraction. UNK hit one of two free-throws before the teams jumped center at midcourt. The Lopers opened the game on a 6-0 run before Royce Williams snapped the run with a bucket. UNK led by six five more times before pushing its lead to eight twice between the seven and six-minute marks of the opening half.
From the 5:15 to 3:45 marks, FHSU went on an 8-0 run to erase a seven-point UNK lead and take a one-point lead, its first lead of the game. FHSU would trade the lead two more times before the teams settled on a 39-39 tie at halftime.
The Lopers scored the first bucket of the second half, but FHSU used a 6-0 burst to take a four-point lead. UNK took the lead back briefly, but FHSU used a 12-4 run to build a lead of six points by the 10:47 mark. UNK would get the game tied two more times before taking one-point leads at 6:35 and 5:29. From that point, FHSU went on a 21-9 run to close out the game as Dom Samac took over on the offensive end.
At 4:45, Samac worked his way to the basket to create an old-fashioned three-point play. His free-throw put FHSU up by four. The next trip down, he found Achoki Moikobu at the top of the key for a three-point field goal, extending the lead to seven points. After UNK hit a pair of free-throws, Samac found James Fleming at the top of the key for another three-pointer, pushing the lead to eight. UNK hit another pair of free-throws, but Samac kept the Tigers hot by putting in a layup with 3:06 to go off an assist by Fleming. That bucket capped Samac’s career night as he finished with 25 points. He added nine rebounds to nearly pick up a double-double. He finished 10-of-14 from the field, hitting one three-pointer, and 4-of-6 at the free-throw line.
Fleming found a slashing Williams at 2:42 to push the Tiger lead to 10, the first time either team led by double figures in the game. Moikobu and Fleming capped an 8-0 burst by the Tigers by each hitting a pair of free-throws, giving FHSU a 14-point advantage of 86-72 with 1:17 to go. UNK scored five of the final seven points of the game, but it was too late as the FHSU burst had delivered the knock-out blow.
Fleming also reached a career-high in scoring with 23 points, hitting 7-of-10 shots in the game. He was 3-of-5 beyond the three-point line and 6-of-9 at the free-throw line. Moikobu was just one point shy of his career high, scoring 17. He hit five field goals, including a pair of three-pointers, and went 5-of-6 at the free-throw line.
Trey Lansman paced the Loper offensive attack with a career-high 35 points. The true freshman’s previous career high was 17 points against Missouri Southern earlier this year. He finished 10-of-17 from the field with two three-pointers and a perfect 13-of-13 at the free-throw line. Connor Beranek was the only other Loper to reach double figures with 15 points.
The late flurry allowed the Tigers to shoot 51.8 percent from the field in the game, after shooting just 41.4 percent in the first half. The Tigers hit 40 percent of their three-point attempts (8-of-20) and 78.6 percent of their free-throw attempts (22-of-28).
The Lopers finished at 45.1 percent from the field, but only 27.3 percent beyond the three-point line. They shot free-throws well, hitting 83.3 percent (25-of-30).
Fort Hays State matches up against Emporia State for the second time this season on Saturday at Gross Memorial Coliseum. Game time is set for 4 pm. FHSU defeated ESU 66-44 on January 28 in Emporia.