No. 21/RV Fort Hays State (23-5, 17-5 MIAA) vs.
No. 15/11 Northwest Missouri State (26-5, 18-4 MIAA)
Saturday, March 5 • 8:15 p.m.
Kansas City, Mo. • Municipal Auditorium
2022 MIAA Basketball Championship Semifinals
Radio: KJLS (103.3-FM)
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Fort Hays State Men's Basketball will face Northwest Missouri State for the third time this season on Saturday in the MIAA Tournament Semifinals. Tipoff is set for 8:15 pm at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City. The No. 21 ranked Tigers enter at 23-5 overall, while the No. 15 ranked Bearcats are 26-5 overall.
Northwest Missouri State, the defending NCAA Division II national champion, won both regular season meetings between the teams and ran its win streak over Fort Hays State to 13 games. That streak dates back to the 2012-13 season, started in the MIAA Tournament Semifinals that season after FHSU won both regular season meetings between the teams. NWMSU won 74-60 in Hays in January, then 57-49 a week ago in Maryville in the regular season finale. The result in Maryville gave Northwest Missouri State its ninth straight MIAA regular season title, which goes back to 2013-14. Fort Hays State was co-champion of the MIAA regular season back in 2012-13, the year before Northwest Missouri State started its impressive string of regular season titles.
Fort Hays State is looking for its second win in MIAA Tournament semifinal games. The Tigers are 1-6 so far in the round since joining the MIAA in 2006-07. The only semifinal win for the FHSU men was back in 2011 when it defeated Emporia State. The Tigers went on to win the MIAA Tournament that year by defeating Missouri Southern in the championship game. The Tigers are 0-2 against Northwest Missouri State in MIAA Tournament semifinal games.
Both of these teams are inside the Top 8 of the NCAA Central Region rankings. The latest edition produced on March 2 had Northwest Missouri State at No. 4 and Fort Hays State at No. 7. The Tigers are right on the bubble since Minnesota State-Moorhead won the automatic bid from the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Tournament, a team that was nowhere to be found in any of the region rankings released this season. That leaves the MIAA and GAC automatic qualifiers left to claim, and five at-large bids. Southeastern Oklahoma State is the only GAC team inside the Top 7 at No. 6 in the region.
Jared Vitztum continues to lead FHSU at 16.1 points and 10.3 rebounds per game. With 24 points in the quarterfinal game against Missouri Southern on Friday night, Vitztum moved up to fourth on the all-time scoring list at FHSU with 1,568 points. He pulled down 16 rebounds to elevate his career total to 936, now just 44 shy of the school record 980 held by Barton Snow.
Kaleb Hammeke and Nyjee Wright each scored 14 points in the quarterfinal win. Hammeke averages 14.4 points and a team-best 3.6 assists per game. Wright is adding 11.1 points per contest.
Fort Hays State continues to rank second nationally in scoring defense, allowing just 56.7 points per game. FHSU limited Missouri Southern to just 55 points in the quarterfinals, the 22nd time its has held an opponent under 60 points this season. FHSU held Northwest Missouri State to less than 60 last week in Maryville even though it resulted in a loss.