By GERARD WELLBROCK
Hays Post
LIBERTY, Mo. – Fort Hays State rallied from a 15-point deficit late in the first half and beat William Jewell College 63-59 Saturday at the Mabee Center in a battle of NCAA Tournament teams from a year ago.
Kaleb Hammeke was fouled on a driving layup with 7:31 to play to give the Tigers (5-3) their biggest lead at 61-55. FHSU wouldn't score again until Hammeke's layup with 5.7 seconds left. The Tigers held the Cardinals (4-6) to just four points over the final 10 minutes of the game and The Tigers held the Cardinals to just 2-of-9 shooting and four turnovers in the final 10 minutes.
William Jewell's Jordan Jermain scored 20 of his game-high 25 points in the first half. He hit his first four 3-point shots and made seven of his first eight field-goal attempts overall. The Cardinals shot a 62.5-percent from the field in the first half, including a 6-of-10 effort from beyond the 3-point line to build a 41-29 halftime lead.
Fort Hays State opened the second half on a 10-2 run to pull within four in the first three minutes. After William Jewell pushed the lead back to eight, Shaun Riley scored eight points of a 13-4 Tiger run in which they took their first lead since early in the first half on a Dan Makuna layup.
FHSU outscored William Jewell 34-18 in the second half and outscored the Cardinals to just 34.8 percent shooting in the second frame, including just 1-of-7 from beyond the arc. FHSU was shooting 62 percent from the field in the second half but hit just one of their final eight shots.
Hammeke scored FHSU's final seven points and led five Tigers in double-figures with 11 points. Riley, Kyle Grill, R.J, Crawford and Traejon Davis all scored 10 points each. All nine Tigers that played scored. The Tigers out-rebounded Cardinals by seven led by Riley's nine boards. Hammeke dished out a team-high four assists.
Joining Jermain in double figures for the Cardinals were Luke Jordan with 11 and Bryce Mitchell with 10.
UP NEXT
Fort Hays State will take just a day off and return to action Monday night at Gross Memorial Coliseum when it takes on Bethel College at 7 p.m. FHSU will be at home for its next three games, all within the span of seven days before the holiday break.