WICHITA - Caleb Hammeke scored a career-high 20 points and Jared Vitztum added his third straight double-double to help the Fort Hays State Tigers to an 81-75 overtime win over Newman for their first win of the season Saturday at Fugate Gymnasium.
The Tigers played their second straight game without head coach Mark Johnson who's in isolation after testing positive for COVID-19. They did have associate head coach Jeremy Brown back on the bench after missing the Kansas State exhibition game while in quarintine
The game was tight throughout with 11 ties and 11 lead changes and neither team leading by more than seven.
The Tigers (1-3, 1-3 MIAA) took a 35-31 lead at halftime thanks to an 9-0 run to close out the half. Gilbert Peters and Jared Vitzum combined to score the final 12 points of the half for the Tigers who held the Jets (1-4, 1-4 MIAA) to two free throws over the final 4:18.
Newman outscored the Tigers 16-5 to start the second half and built their biggest lead at 47-40 with 14:41 to play.
FHSU answered with 16-5 run to retake the lead at 56-54 lead on a Quinten Rock jumper with 8:48 to play.
The Tigers led by four with just under two minutes to play but they missed three of their last four free throws. Newman's Joel Boyce, who scored all of his team-high 18 points in the second half an overtime, hit a 3-pointer with 27 seconds to play to tie the game at 68-68 and eventual force overtime.
After both teams exchanged baskets to start the extra period, the Tigers went on a 8-1 run to take back the lead for good.
Hammeke led four Tigers in double-figures with a career-best 20 points, Vitztum added 19 and 10 rebounds, Gilbert Peters a career-high 18 and Rock added 15 on 3-of-7 shooting from beyond the arc.