FHSU SPORTS INFORMATION DEPARTMENT
HAYS, Kan. – Fort Hays State fought from behind the majority of the second half and tied the game with 26 seconds remaining, but No. 21 ranked Colorado School of Mines banked in a 3-point prayer from nearly all the way in the right corner at the buzzer to avoid overtime and drop the Tigers to 2-2 on the season. Colorado Mines improved to 3-0.
Gokul Natesan chucked up the game-winning shot for the Orediggers as he faded right in the air over a pair of Tigers. The shot was offline to the right enough to catch the backboard in the right spot and drop down through as the buzzer sounded. The Orediggers escaped a tightly contested game, but gave up a seven-point lead in the final two and a half minutes of the game before hitting the shot at the buzzer.
Both teams shot efficiently in the first half and Colorado Mines maybe provided some foreshadowing when Luke Schroepfer hit an off balance 3-point shot at the buzzer for a one-point halftime lead, 34-33. The Orediggers shot 51.7 percent in the opening frame, but FHSU was right behind at 48.3 percent.
The Tigers took two brief leads early in the second half before the Orediggers went on a 9-0 run to take an eight-point lead with 16:12 remaining in the game. The Tigers kept scratching and clawing, cutting the lead to four twice before the Orediggers ballooned the lead to 10 with 9:49 remaining. Colorado Mines shot even more efficiently in the second half at 60.9 percent, which pushed its overall percentage to 55.8 by game’s end.
Right after CSM took the 10-point lead, the Tigers fought back with a 9-1 run to cut the lead down to two points with 7:46 remaining. FHSU cut the lead to two points twice more before a layup and an in-bounds steal and 3-point field goal instantly pushed the Oredigger lead back to seven with 4:07 to play.
The Tigers had one final charge in them. Kyler Kinnamon cut the lead to five with 2:34 to go. The Tigers got a stop defensively and then Rob Davis buried a right corner 3-pointer to make it a two-point game with 1:41 to go. Colorado Mines missed the front end of a 1-and-1 and then Davis was fouled with 26 seconds to go. He hit both attempts from the line, where he went 6-of-6 for the game, and tied the game giving CSM the last possession. The Orediggers chewed the entire remaining time before passing to the guarded Natesan and he hoisted up the wild game-winning shot.
Davis led the Tigers in scoring with 20 points, his third straight game of reaching 20 after a pair of 30-plus point performances. JaQuan Smith had 12 points in the post, while Hadley Gillum had 11 and added a team-high seven rebounds. Davis also led the Tigers in assists with three.
Caleb Waitsman led the Orediggers with 17 points and eight rebounds. Natesan added 14 points, while Ben Sonnefeld and Ben Clare each had 10. Sonnefeld dished out a team-high six assists.
The Tigers look to bounce back from the tough loss with another non-conference game at Newman University in Wichita on Tuesday evening (Nov. 22) at 7 pm.