FHSU Sports Information Department
HAYS, Kan. – In a game that saw 52 fouls and 68 free-throws between teams, Fort Hays State squeaked out a 74-73 win over Central Missouri on Thursday evening (Jan. 5) at Gross Memorial Coliseum. Rob Davis poured in 34 points hitting several key shots late to lift the Tigers to victory. The Tigers moved to 9-4 overall, 3-2 in the MIAA, while the Mules went to 8-4 overall and 2-2 in the MIAA.
Fort Hays State led by as many as 10 points in the first half before Central Missouri finished with an 11-4 run. As a result, the Tigers went into the locker room with a 33-30 lead. At the half, the teams had only combined for 19 fouls and 20 free-throws overall.
A 5-0 burst by the Mules to open the second half gave them their first lead of the game at 35-33, but the Tigers answered with a 6-0 run to take the lead back by four. The Tigers clung to a narrow lead until reaching their seventh foul of the second half at the 13:55 mark, which allowed the Mules to shoot 26 free throws from there on out.
From the 13:55 mark, UCM slowly went on a 12-4 run in a possession style game over the next four and a half minutes to build a seven-point lead. Meanwhile, the Mules held the Tigers without a field goal in an 8:02 span between the 15:49 and 7:47 marks. The seven points FHSU scored in that span were free-throws until a Trey O’Neil 3-point field goal broke the drought to pull the Tigers back within three.
But the Mules continued to draw fouls and make free throws, hitting their first 13 attempts past the 13:55 mark. The Tigers kept scratching and clawing, pulling within two points three times before the 1:00 mark. A Rob Davis 3-point field goal with 1:00 remaining on the clock made it 71-69 in favor of the Mules.
Out of a timeout, the Tigers put on a press and Davis picked off a pass near midcourt. Hadley Gillum inched the Tigers closer by making one of two free-throws, the first rattling in and out of the cylinder, to make it 71-70. Just two seconds later, Central Missouri’s D.J. Richardson stepped on the sideline, giving the ball back to the Tigers once again. This time, Davis made the Mules pay by hitting a jumper with 27 seconds remaining to push the Tigers in front 72-71.
The Mules ran the clock down looking for the last shot attempt and had a great point-blank layup look at the bucket that Marquiez Lawrence missed with five ticks remaining on the clock. The Tigers pounced on the ball to force a jump ball, with the possession arrow in their favor. Davis took the inbounds pass, was fouled, then dropped his 33rd and 34th points of the game through the net to push FHSU to a three-point advantage, 74-71.
Fort Hays State opted to foul near midcourt with 1.7 seconds remaining before a UCM player could get a potential tying 3-point shot off. Spencer Reaves went to the free-throw line, made the first, then purposely missed the second. But on the rebound, Drew Kite was called for a push under the basket, giving UCM two more free-throw chances to tie the game with 0.7 seconds remaining. Just subbed into the game before the Reaves free-throw attempts, Williams Gabriel rattled the first home but missed the second and JaQuan Smith elevated to catch the ball and end a truly bizarre finish in Fort Hays State’s favor, 74-73.
Davis poured in 20 of his 34 points in the second half, including 18 in the final 10 minutes of the game. He was 9-of-17 from the field, 4-of-7 from beyond the 3-point line, and 12-of-13 at the free-throw line. He went over 30 points in a game for the fifth time this season, upping his MIAA-best scoring average to 24.2 points per game. Gillum notched his fourth double-double of the season with 15 points and 13 rebounds.
The Tigers shot 45.1 percent overall from the field, including 43.8 percent beyond the 3-point line. They were 75 percent at the free-throw line (21-of-28). FHSU held UCM to just 38.6 percent shooting from the field and 31.6 percent beyond the 3-point line, but UCM made the game close by going 82.5 percent from the free-throw line (33-of-40), canning and shooting 12 more free-throws than the Tigers. Luckily that was offset by six more field goal makes by the Tigers and one more 3-point field goal for the 13-point swing the other direction.
Reaves and Richardson led the Mules with 14 points each, while Dushaun Rice added 11. The three combined for a 22-of-24 effort at the free-throw line, the only two misses from Richardson (10-of-12).
The Tigers look to continue a move up in the MIAA standings on Saturday (Jan. 7) when they host the Bearcats of Southwest Baptist at 4 pm in Hays.