BY CHRISTIAN PHILLIPS
PHOTOS BY DANYANG YUAN
Fort Hays State had an opportunity to get back on track at home, but came up short again Thursday versus the Rogers State Hillcats. The 23rd ranked Hillcats came into Gross Memorial Coliseum 20-5 overall and 12-4 in the MIAA. FHSU Head Coach Mark Johnson gave credit to the Hillcats, who are now on a three-game win streak and improved their away record to 7-3 on the year.
“Yeah, I think Rogers is a very good team. There’s a reason their record is now 21-5,” he said.
Foul trouble riddled the Fort Hays State Tigers, which forced more rotations between Gilbert Peters and Jake Hutchings. Peters played crucial minutes during the absence of senior guard Devin Davis, who picked up three early fouls. Peters finished with a total of 10 points and 5-6 from the field in 21 minutes.
“There was a weird stretch during the game. There was a mismatch where they [Rogers State] couldn’t guard Gilbert, but how well could we guard them with going small [due to foul trouble],” Johnson said. “I thought we were winning the battle, but in a quick minute and a half [beginning of 2nd half] they started winning by hitting a couple of threes.”
Rogers State outperformed the Tigers from the three-point marker by a total of six makes. The Hillcats finished 7 for 11 from three and FHSU hit just 1-14 for 7.1 percent.
“We got beat at the three-point line. That was basically the difference in the game,” Johnson said.
The dismal performance from beyond the arc was quite the narrative changer. When the Tigers were on a five-game win streak the three-point line paid dividends for their substantially smaller guards in Aaron Nicholson and Nyjee Wright.
“[Tonight] We needed a guy to step up and break the seal and make a shot,” Johnson said. “Usually the best player on the floor team usually wins and there is no question tonight that number 5 [Marques Sumner] was by far the best player on the floor.”
Sumner concluded the matchup with a total of 23 points, on 9-15 shooting from the field, and 5-9 from three, in 36 minutes.
“He hit a couple of big shots late like a three and a big part of that was we stayed deep on the ball screen. He hit a big three with an unbelievable stepback and that was good defense, but Aaron is just short.” Johnson said.
Fort Hays State had ample opportunity to keep it even closer, but the aggressive offensive scheme stalled at the line as the team left a total of eight shots on the table from the charity strike. The Tigers finished 27-35 at 77.1 percent.
“They [Rogers] went 19-22 from the foul line, we missed eight free throws and really the second half for us was kind of like the Lincoln game,” Johnson said. “We went 16 of 19 in the second half and you would take that every half, but in this case we missed too late. Those were just timely misses you can;t afford to miss in a game like this.”
Nyjee Wright led the Tigers in scoring, as he tallied a 17 point game, on 6-12 shooting from the field and 5-7 from the free-throw line. Fort Hays State finished the game 20-44 from the field at 45.5 percent, which was slightly better than the overall team’s performance by the Hillcats who shot 23-51 at 45.1 percent.
“We didn’t shoot the ball very well and give them a little bit of credit. They did a good job taking away our perimeter.We shot 45 percent from the field, I mean they know what we are. We are a three point shooting team,” Johnson said. “We struggled getting to the rim and finishing and they didn’t let our three point shooters get open.”
Tiger fans can catch the men’s team back in action inside Gross Memorial Colesium this Saturday at 4 pm, against the Northeastern State Riverhawks.
“They are very athletic. Most athletic team in the league. They are very good and have had heartbreaking losses,” Johnson said. “I know they have at least lost twice in overtime and maybe another time got beat at the buzzer. This Rogers State team just got beat by them pretty [bad] and then Rogers State went to Northeastern and hit a shot at the buzzer to beat them. So we saw how good Rogers is and Northeastern should have swept them. They [Northeastern] are very good, have great guards and defensively they change a lot of shots at the rim.”
The game will be FHSU’s senior day, celebrating Tiger seniors Calvin Harrington, Jake Hutchings, Aaron Nicholson, and Devin Davis.