By MAYAN PAZ
Tiger Media Network
Entering their last road trip of the regular season, the FHSU men’s basketball team is currently No. 6 in the MIAA standings and is under consideration for a spot in the NCAA DII Central Regional. The Tigers (17-8, 9-7) will play Missouri Southern (14-10, 8-7) tonight and Pittsburg State (14-11, 8-7) on Saturday, trying to officially secure their spot in the MIAA Tournament.
Last weekend, FHSU swept Emporia State and Newman at home. These wins have put the Tigers in a comfortable position for qualifying, but they still aim to improve their seed and battle for a bye round and a spot in the Top-25 Polls by the end of the regular season.
Entering last weekend, FHSU head coach Mark Johnson said he just wanted to win those games, no matter how. And while FHSU only beat ESU by 6 points and needed overtime to defeat last-place Newman, Johnson said he was satisfied with the results.
“The Emporia game was more of a half-court grind out, [and it was a] really tough struggle to score by both teams, and we found a way to win that,” Johnson said. “And then the Newman game, to their credit, they played fantastically, they made shots that they probably have not made this year to some degree, so we caught them on one of their best nights.”
He said he thought his team showed a lot of resiliency playing two different styles of games over the weekend and that being able to win in different ways was pretty good.
As FHSU closes in on the end of the regular season, there is a sense of urgency among the team in order to guarantee a solid spot in the conference tournament and challenge for one of th the top-8 teams in the Central Region. Although Johnson said the specific preparation for this weekend’s games is no different from any other game, he said making sure players are aware of the high stakes is important.
“Now, every game becomes more meaningful because you’re trying to get the highest seed. If we can win these last remaining games, we might still be considered for the NCAA at-large bid, which is always a big deal,” he said. “You don’t want to have to go in there and win the conference tournament every time to make it. But I don’t think it changes anything in your preparation. Each game is one win, one loss, but I think just a heightened sense of importance and urgency matters.”
After facing some struggles in previous games, FHSU’s leading scorer, Dan Mukuna, had impressive showings against Emporia and Newman, going for 15 points with 8 rebounds against Emporia and 16 points and 10 rebounds against Newman. Mukuna’s performance is key for the Tigers, not only for his own stats but for the success of his teammates as well.
Mukuna’s domination over the past weekend helped other Tigers perform well. Jahvari Martino and Kyle Grill especially impressed against Newman with 23 and 18 points, respectively, and Johnson said it is great to see more players take advantage of opponents’ defenses when they focus on Mukuna.
This weekend’s games are important for MIAA seeding as MSSU and Pitt State are both just 0.5 games behind the Tigers in the standings. If FHSU can stay at the No. 6 spot or above, they will avoid playing on the opening day of the MIAA, which forces teams to potentially play back-to-back games.
Johnson spoke about looking at the conference qualification race.
“There’s a handful of teams that have already secured it, there’s a handful of teams that have no chance, and then there’s a handful of us that are battling right there, and they would be a part of that group (Missouri Southern and Pitt State) with us,” he said.
The Tigers will play Missouri Southern at 7:30 p.m. tonight and Pitt State at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday. FHSU hosts UNK on February 26 to close out the regular season.