FHSU Athletics
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The Fort Hays State men's basketball team advanced in the MIAA Tournament on Thursday night with a 65-60 win in the quarterfinals over Lincoln. The Tigers, seeded No. 2 in the tournament, improved to 23-6 overall, while No. 10 seeded Lincoln closed its season at 15-15 overall. FHSU will face either No. 3 seed Pittsburg State or No. 6 seed Central Oklahoma in Saturday night's semifinal at 8:15 p.m. The Gorillas and Bronchos play their quarterfinal game on Friday night.
The game was a battle throughout with Lincoln holding the advantage for a good portion of the first half. The Blue Tigers led for about the first nine minutes of the game until FHSU pulled even at 14-14 with just under 11 minutes to go in the first half. FHSU tied the game two more times in the opening half before slipping by in the last five minutes. FHSU led by five, but saw Lincoln close the lead back to within 33-31 at halftime.
Fort Hays State was able to hold on to the lead throughout the second half, but fought off several bursts from Lincoln. A 7-0 burst by the Tigers, which includes 3-point field goals from Elijah Nnanabu and Bjarni Jonsson pushed the FHSU lead out to 10 for the first time at the 10:27 mark. The Tigers reached that 10-point margin three more times until Lincoln made its final charge in the final four minutes.
Three-point field goals from Lincoln cut the lead down to three twice, but a pair of Jonsson free throws with 13 seconds remaining sealed the win for FHSU.
Nnanabu led the Tigers with 23 points on 8-of-14 shooting from the field and a 6-of-8 effort at the free-throw line. Jonsson was a perfect 3-of-3 beyond the 3-point line and provided 14 points. Kaleb Hammeke also had 14 and led the Tigers with six assists. Shaun Riley led the Tigers in rebounds with eight and Conner Landell was a force inside on defense with three blocks.
FHSU shot the ball well from 3-point range, hitting 7-of-15 attempts. The Tigers held Lincoln to 37 percent shooting from the field.
Trey Boston had a big night for Lincoln, hitting five of his team's eight 3-point field goals. He led four Blue Tiger scorers in double figures with 19.
Fort Hays State has reached 23 wins in a season under Mark Johnson for the sixth time, the last occurring in 2021-22. Only two of Johnson's previous teams had more than 20 wins in a season, that being the 2005-06 squad with 27 and the 2010-11 squad with 26.
FHSU evened the score with Lincoln in MIAA Tournament games, now each with one win. FHSU improved to 4-1 as the No. 2 seed in its MIAA Tournament history and is now 2-0 against No. 10 seeds in the tournament. FHSU also improved to 14-14 all-time in the MIAA Tournament and has now reached the MIAA semifinals for a 10th time.