FHSU Sports Information Department
HAYS, Kan. – Rob Davis was absolutely on fire Saturday afternoon (Jan. 16) at Gross Memorial Coliseum, helping Fort Hays State to a 91-74 win over Central Oklahoma. Davis scorched the nets with a career-high 36 points, hitting eight 3-point field goals and finishing 13-of-18 overall from the field. The Tigers moved to 13-4 overall and 7-4 in the MIAA with the win and back into third place in the MIAA standings, just one game back of the conference lead.
Davis finished one 3-point field goal shy of the single-game record at FHSU of nine, held by Rodney Malloy and Geoff Eck, but he was nearly flawless in dropping his eight 3-pointers going 8-of-10 beyond the arc. He also knifed to the basket several times and picked up a pair of free-throws as well to finish with 36 points. Davis tied the most points produced by a Tiger player under head coach Mark Johnson, matching teammate Craig Nicholson’s 36 against Emporia State in 2014. Davis also dished out three assists and recorded two steals in the game.
Fort Hays State was flat-out efficient shooting the ball, hitting at a 59.2 percent clip overall (29-of-49), 68.2 percent beyond the 3-point line (15-of-22), and 90 percent at the free-throw line (18-of-20). Nicholson added 13 points and Jake Stoppel had 10. Kyler Kinnamon was just shy of double figures with nine points. Nicholson had a team-high four assists and Stoppel had a team-high six rebounds.
FHSU scored the first nine points of the game, all on 3-point field goals. Davis had two to get his huge day kickstarted and Nicholson added one. The Tigers led by as-many-as 13 in the first half and eventually 10 by halftime, 42-32.
UCO cut the lead down to five with the first five points of the second half, but Davis had the answer with his sixth 3-pointer of the game at the 17:57 mark. FHSU eventually pushed its lead out to 15 with 9:37 to go in the game and Davis’ eighth 3-pointer of the game was part of an 8-0 run that pushed the lead to 18 at the 7:08 mark. The lead grew as large as 22 before settling on the final margin of 17.
Garen Wright and Jordan London the Bronchos with 14 points each. Cornell Neal and Corey Alpough each had 11. Neal had a team-best four assists.
The Tigers now gear up for a three-game road swing to close out the month of January. FHSU heads on the road to Missouri Western and Northwest Missouri State next week and then Nebraska-Kearney the following week.