FHSU Athletics
HAYS, Kan. – Fort Hays State closed out its regular season Friday night with an 80-67 win over Nebraska-Kearney at Gross Memorial Coliseum. The Tigers are now 22-6 overall and matched their record for wins in MIAA play at 17-5, the same conference record they posted in 2021-22. The Tigers finished alone in second place in the MIAA standings and will be the No. 2 seed at next week's MIAA Tournament in Kansas City. Nebraska-Kearney closed its season at 5-22 overall and 2-20 in the MIAA.
The Lopers put up a fight early on by hitting a lot of tough shots. The Tigers, however, were finally able to get past them with a late first-half run. The Tigers held the Lopers scoreless for the final three minutes of the opening half and went on an 8-0 burst to hold a nine-point halftime lead.
The Tigers were able to stretch their lead in the second half to as large as 24 with 12:21 to play in the game. UNK had little bursts at times to keep the game from being a runaway. They were able to cut the lead back down to 12 with 5:40 to play, then got the final margin down to 13 by scoring the final 10 points of the game.
Elijah Nnanabu turned in a big performance on Senior Night with 23 points and 10 rebounds for his second double-double of the season. Kaleb Hammeke neared a double-double with 12 points and a team-high eight assists. Hammeke passed Kyler Kinnnamon for fourth on the all-time assists list at FHSU, now with 432. Jahiem Holden also had a big senior night, tying his season high in points with 19. Holden hit a team-high three 3-point field goals.
Nebraska-Kearney had four players reach double figures in scoring, led by Sean Murphy with 17. Taden King had 15, Sean Evans had 13, and D'Aundre Samuels added 10.The 80 points scored by the Tigers was their most in a home game this season. It was only their second time this season reaching 80 in a game.
This is the seventh time in Mark Johnson's coaching tenure that the Tigers have won at least 22 games in a season, while already hitting the 20-win threshold for a 12th time on his watch.
UP NEXT
Fort Hays State will play the winner of the No. 7 vs. No. 10 seed matchup in the MIAA Tournament. That game takes place on Wednesday before the winner faces FHSU on Thursday night in the quarterfinals at 8:15 p.m. inside Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City.