FHSU SPORTS INFORMATION DEPARTMENT
HAYS, Kan. – Fort Hays State pulled off a huge comeback on Wednesday night (Dec. 7) for an 89-82 win over Washburn. Down by 20 after the first 10 minutes of the game, Fort Hays State rallied to hand Washburn its first loss of the season. FHSU is now 6-3 overall, 2-1 in the MIAA, while Washburn went to 8-1 overall and 0-1 in the MIAA.
Washburn, the first team listed in the receiving votes section outside the top 25 of the NABC Division II Poll, made its presence felt early by opening the game on a 16-0 run. The lead grew to 27-7 by the 10:10 mark of the opening half. At that juncture, the Ichabods were shooting well over 70 percent from the field and had already buried five 3-point field goals.
Luckily Aaron Nicholson and Rob Davis had started a spark for the Tigers, combining for the team’s first 12 points. A pair of Trey O’Neil 3-point field goals all of the sudden trimmed the lead to 11 at 28-19 with seven and a half minutes to play. Then Brady Werth joined in the fun by starting a 12-0 run with a 3-point field goal from the top of the key. Nicholson hit a jumper, then a 3-pointer, and all the sudden the lead was six. Werth buried another jumper to make it four, then Hadley Gillum drained a pair of free-throws to make it a two-point game at the 2:42 mark. A pair of Washburn free-throws snapped the run, but a pair of Werth free-throws and a Davis layup with 21 seconds remaining made the comeback complete to knot the score 34-34. Washburn banked in a wild shot before the first half buzzer to retake a two-point lead, but it was a far cry from its blazing hot start.
FHSU outscored the Ichabods 27-9 over the final 10 minutes of the first half, nearly identical to the 27-7 start by the Ichabods in the first 10 minutes. Washburn was held without a field goal between the 6:45 and 0:03 marks of the first half.
The Tigers tied the game twice more in the early moments of the second half before finally claiming their first lead on a Brady Werth layup at the 15:49 mark. The lead grew to five at the 13:58 mark but Washburn stormed back to lead four more times, its final lead 66-65 occurring at the 6:14 mark. But a thunderous dunk by JaQuan Smith off an offensive rebound pushed the Tigers back in front and Washburn would never retake the lead from that point, though there was one more tie. An old-fashioned 3-point play by Rob Davis with a high kiss off the glass on his layup pushed the Tigers into the lead for good at the 4:41 mark. The Tigers outscored the Ichabods 20-15 in the final five minutes to pull off the big comeback win.
The redshirt-freshman Nicholson had a career night, going for a team-high 22 points on 8-of-10 shooting from the field. He went 4-of-6 beyond the 3-point line and also buried his only two free-throw attempts. Gillum came on strong for the Tigers in the second half, scoring 18 of his 20 points. He was 3-of-6 beyond the 3-point line and he added 10 rebounds for the second double-double of his career and season. Gillum was a perfect 9-of-9 from the free-throw line. O’Neil finished with 18 points, adding a 4-of-7 effort beyond the 3-point line. Rob Davis also reached double figures with 14 points, despite not even taking a 3-point field goal attempt in the game.
Free-throw shooting won the game for FHSU, where it went 26-of-27 for the game (96.2 percent). The Tigers entered the game shooting just 68.1 percent from the charity stripe for the season (12th in the MIAA at the time) but saw that number climb all the way to 72 percent which now ranks sixth in the conference. The Tigers buried 12 more free-throws than the Ichabods, who went 13-of-20. Three-point shooting was also rock solid for the Tigers as they finished 12-of-21 (57.1 percent).
Brady Skeens was a force on the interior for Washburn with 19 points, 12 rebounds, eight assists, and five blocked shots, while Cameron Wiggins finished with a team-high 21 points. Randall Smith and Emeka Ogbonna each had 11 points, while Javion Blake had 10 for the Ichabods.
The Tigers look to carry their momentum into Saturday when they play host to Emporia State. Tipoff is set for 4 pm at Gross Memorial Coliseum.