{"id":69240,"date":"2022-11-14T08:20:31","date_gmt":"2022-11-14T14:20:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/?p=69240"},"modified":"2022-11-14T08:20:33","modified_gmt":"2022-11-14T14:20:33","slug":"mens-basketball-starts-season-1-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/?p=69240","title":{"rendered":"Men’s basketball starts season 1-1"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By FHSU SPORTS INFORMATION<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

WEATHERFORD, Okla. – Fort Hays State picked up its first win of the 2022-23 season on Saturday (Nov. 12) with a 58-49 win over Arkansas Tech. The Tigers moved to 1-1 on the season, while the Wonder Boys dropped to 0-2.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fort Hays State trailed only a couple of times early in the first half before overtaking Arkansas Tech with a 7-0 burst for a 13-9 lead. The Tigers held onto the lead the remainder of the first half, leading by as many as nine at 23-14 before the Wonder Boys closed the first half on an 8-2 run to make the halftime margin 25-22.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Tiger lead grew to 11 twice within the first seven minutes of the second half, but Arkansas Tech chipped away with a 10-0 run to get back within one with 7:25 to go. Arkansas Tech climbed back to even with the Tigers on a Taelon Peter 3-point field goal with 4:44 to play, but Kaleb Hammeke<\/a><\/dfn> answered with a three of his own at the 4:16 mark to put the Tigers back in front for good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Hammeke triple sparked a 12-2 run for the Tigers to get their lead back to 10 with 1:56 to play, capped by a 3-point field goal from Gabe Pieschl<\/a><\/dfn>. Elijah Nnanabu<\/a><\/dfn> sealed the win by hitting all four of his free-throw attempts in the final 20 seconds of the game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A big factor in the Tiger win was the free-throw line, where the Tigers went 23-of-25 (92 percent). Hammeke, Pieschl, Nnanabu, Traejon Davis<\/a><\/dfn>, and Bjarni Jonsson<\/a><\/dfn> were all perfect on their charity stripe attempts. The Tigers outscored the Wonder Boys by 13 points at the free-throw line. Arkansas Tech was 10-of-14 at the line. Both teams made 16 field goals in the game, but ATU had the edge in 3-point field goal makes 7-3.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Tigers forced the Wonder Boys into 21 turnovers, including 10 on steals. FHSU scored 20 points off turnovers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hammeke led the Tigers with 23 points, going 6-of-11 from the field and 10-of-10 at the free-throw line. Pieschl had nine points, Jonsson had seven, and Nnanabu and Davis each had six. Hammeke and Davis tied for a team-high six rebounds and Hammeke led in assists with five.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Andre Leavell led the ATU scoring effort with 16 points, while Wes Harris had a team-high six rebounds. Leavell also led his squad in assists with four.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Tigers play their first home contest of the season on Thursday night (Nov. 17) when they play host to Bethel College at 7 p.m. inside Gross Memorial Coliseum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Friday<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

WEATHERFORD, Okla. – Fort Hays State Men’s Basketball made a big second half comeback, but Southwestern Oklahoma State did enough late to escape on its home floor by a score of 59-56 on Friday evening (Nov. 11) in the season opener for both squads. The Tigers trailed by 16 at the half, rallied all the way back to take a one-point lead inside three minutes to play, but could not cash in key opportunities late to finish the comeback.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both teams struggled out of the gate offensively. Only a total of five points were scored between the teams in the first five and a half minutes. The Tigers led 9-8 seven minutes into the contest, but saw the Bulldogs close the first half on a 29-12 run and trailed 37-21 at the half. The Tigers did not have any players score more than four points in the opening half and struggled to 11 first-half turnovers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Tigers made the first bucket of the second half before the Bulldogs canned another three to lead by 17. However, the Tigers went on a furious rally from that point to make the game interesting over the final 10 minutes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Tigers used a 19-3 run between the 18:27 and 10:56 marks to cut the deficit to just one at 43-42. A quick 6-0 burst for SWOSU had the margin back to seven, but FHSU chipped away again to get back within one with 5:17 to play. Then after just over two minutes of scoreless action, the Tigers moved back into the lead when Gabe Pieschl<\/a><\/dfn>scored on a stick back with 2:53 to go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Bulldogs were able to escape with a win due to their free-throw shooting down the stretch. A pair put them back in front by one with 1:06 to go, but Elijah Nnanabu<\/a><\/dfn>answered with a driving layup to put the Tigers back up one with 50 seconds to play. SWOSU found a way to get to the free-throw line again and made both, then the Tigers were unable to hit a shot and SWOSU went up three on another pair of free throws. The Tigers had a chance to tie at the buzzer, but a 3-point shot fell off the mark.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kaleb Hammeke<\/a><\/dfn> led the Tiger scoring effort with 12 points, following by Nnanabu and Pieschl each with 10. Pieschl hauled in a career-high 13 rebounds for a double-double, while Iyen Enaruna<\/a><\/dfn> pulled down 10 in his Tiger debut.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kamden Gipson and Ben Smith shared high-scoring honors for SWOSU with 13 each. Victor Ihrihri had 12 and Chris Braggs, Jr. added 11.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

FHSU had four more field goals made than SWOSU. The Bulldogs made up for it by making nine 3-point field goals compared to just two by the Tigers. SWOSU hit 14 free throws compared to 10 for FHSU.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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