Early UNK offensive flurry too much for Tigers to overcome in 20-point loss

Fort Hays State University fell by a score of 79-59 at Nebraska-Kearney on Saturday night. An early offensive flurry by the Lopers led to a 28-point halftime deficit for FHSU. The Tigers dropped to 16-10 overall and 9-8 in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association with the loss.The Lopers (16-8, 11-6 MIAA) opened the game on a 12-2 run, but FHSU used a 7-0 run to cut the lead down three with 12:45 to go in the first half. UNK dominted from that point on, going on a 19-3 run to lead by 19 at 4:51. The Lopers used an 11-0 burst to grow the lead to 25 and then closed the half with a 6-0 run to grow the lead to 28, up 48-20 at halftime.

The Lopers led by as many as 34 with 10:54 to go in the game, but FHSU closed the remainder of the second half on a 22-8 run to cut the final margin to 20 points.

After shooting just 26.9 percent from the field in the opening half, FHSU shot 55.2 percent in the second half to finish at 41.8 percent for the game. FHSU shot only 20 percent beyond the 3-point line, 3-of-15.

UNK shot a blistering 63 percent from the field in the first half, but only 33.3 percent in the second to finish at 49 percent for the game. The Lopers buried 50 percent of their 3-point field goal attempts, 10-of-20, and 90.5 percent at the free-throw line, 19-of-21.

James Fleming and Achoki Moikobu led the way in scoring for FHSU, each with 12 points.

Connor Beranek led UNK with 20 points, followed by Trey Lansman with 14, Isaiah McKay with 12, and Lane Rohrich with 10.

The loss pushed FHSU back to eighth place in the MIAA standings, just a half-game ahead of Washburn in the standings. The Tigers close out the regular season on the road at Central Oklahoma and Northeastern State next week.