By GERARD WELLBROCK
Hays Post
JOPLIN, Mo. - Elijah Nnanabu scored a career-high 31 points, Kaleb Hammeke added 22 and the Fort Hays State men's basketball team erased an early 14-point deficit and beat Missouri Southern State 85-67 Thursday night at the Leggett & Platt Athletic Center.
It's the second-straight season the Tigers (12-7, 7-2 MIAA) have had a player score over points in Joplin after Hammke went for a then career-high 35 last season.
MSSU (5-9, 3-5 MIAA) connected on 10 of their first 11 shots shots and built 26-12 lead on a Darius Dawson free throw with 11:01 to play in the first half but the Tigers held them to 3-of-17 shooting the rest of the half in building a 38-34 lead at the break.
Jahiem Holden hit a three which sparked a 16-2 run. Kaleb Hammeke scored on a fast break layup to the tie the game 28-28 with 6:28 to play in the half. Lawson Jenkins hit a three to put the Lions back up three but FHSU outscored them 10-3 to close out the half and would never trail again.
FHSYU outscored the Lions 12-2 over the first 2:49 of the second half to push the lead to 14. It would grow to 22 before MSSU crawled back within 14 with 9:15 to play. The Tigers answered with a 12-1 run to go up 25 on a Holden three with 4:51 to play.
The Lions would hit threes on five of their next six possessions but never got closer than the final 18-point margin.
Nnanabu went 12-of-18 from the floor and 6-for-6 from the free throw line and added seen rebounds. Hammeke finished 8-of-14 from the floor which included 3-of-6 from beyond the arc and dished out eight assists. Shaun Riley scored seven pulled down a game-high 10 rebounds.
The LIons were led by Sam Thompson who scored 12, six of them came in the first two and a half minutes.
FHSU shot 56-percent for the game and were 7-of-16 from three and 12-for-12 from the foul line.
Fort Hays State will wrap up the weekend Saturday at Pittsburg State. Tipoff is scheduled for 3:30 p.m.