FHSU Athletics
MARYVILLE, Mo. – Fort Hays State picked up its first win in over a decade Thursday night at Northwest Missouri State by posting its largest win ever in Maryville. The Tigers turned in a dominating defensive effort and won by 19 points, 58-39 over the Bearcats. FHSU moved to 9-3 overall and 2-1 in the MIAA, while NWMSU moved to 3-9 overall and 1-2 in the MIAA.
Fort Hays State picked up its first win in Maryville since the 2012-13 season when it won 64-60. That season, the Tigers went on to claim a share of the MIAA regular season title with Central Missouri. Since then, Northwest Missouri State has won 11-straight MIAA regular season titles. In their over-a-decade long run of conference titles, the Bearcats won eight-straight games over the Tigers in Bearcat Arena until the Tigers snapped the run on Thursday night. FHSU previous largest margin in a win in Maryville was 11 points in a 79-68 win back during the 2008-09 season.
The 39 points scored by the Bearcats were their fewest ever in the all-time series with FHSU, five less than the 44 they scored in a 15-point loss in Hays back in 1949. Researching all-time scores in the NWMSU record book, it was the first time the Bearcats were held under 40 points since the 1959-60 season when they won a one-point decision 39-38 over Southeast Missouri State. It was the first time the Tigers held a team under 40 points since a 65-32 win over Central Christian in 2022. It was the fewest points the Tigers held an opponent to in an MIAA game since 2021-22 when FHSU defeated Lincoln 73-35 in Jefferson City.
Northwest Missouri State is now 0-3 at home so far this season. It is the first time since that 2012-13 season when FHSU won the conference title that the Bearcats have lost at least three games in a season at home. It was the first time NWMSU has lost three-straight games at home since the 2010-11 season, when they lost five straight at home.
The Tigers pulled away methodically in the contest after trailing by five in the early going. FHSU took the lead for good early in the game when Dan Makuna made a basket to push the Tigers in front 9-7. It was part of a 9-0 run that put the Tigers up by six. The first basket of eight-straight points from Kyle Grill pushed the lead into double figures for the first time and FHSU went on to lead by 14 at the half by a score of 32-18.Northwest Missouri brought the lead back inside of 10 points just once in the second half by opening on an 8-3 burst. But, the Tigers countered with a 12-0 run to blow the game open, leading by 21 with 7:27 to play. Muhamed Kante scored six of the final eight points in the run. FHSU held NWMSU scoreless for nearly seven and a half minutes in the run.
The Tigers struggled to score for a little while after their run as the Bearcats battled back within 10 thanks to an 11-0 run, holding FHSU scoreless for just over four minutes. But, that was as close as the Bearcats could get as R.J. Crawford snapped the run with a pair of free throws. It started a string of seven-straight points for the Tigers to get the lead back up to 17 before the final margin was 19.
Kaleb Hammeke led the Tigers with 13 points, going 6-of-6 at the free-throw line. Crawford reached double figures as well with 10. Grill provided all eight of his points in his individual burst in the first half. Shaun Riley led the Tigers in rebounds with seven, while Hammeke led in assists with four. The Tigers as a team went 19-of-23 at the charity stripe (82.6 percent). The Tigers had an 11-point advantage at the free-throw line and outscored the Bearcats 17-7 on points off turnovers.
The Tigers held the Bearcats to 27.5 percent shooting percentage from the field, including just 16.7 percent beyond the 3-point line. Emorie Knox was the only NWMSU player to reach double figures in scoring with 10, while Jack Ratigan had eight points and a team-high nine rebounds.
UP NEXT
Fort Hays State continues the weekly road swing on Saturday at Missouri Western in St. Joseph. The game time was moved up to 1 p.m. due to the potential winter storm moving into the middle of the United States this weekend.