FHSU Athletics
HAYS, Kan. – Freshman Aiden McDowell knocked down seven 3-pointers on his way to a career-high 24 points and led Fort Hays State to a 66-50 win over #22 MSU Denver Friday at Gross Memorial Coliseum. FHSU improved to 7-3 overall, while MSU Denver dropped to 9-2 overall.
Two milestones of 1,700 were reached in the winning effort. Fort Hays State became the sixth NCAA Division II school with 1,700 wins all-time in it's men's basketball program history. Also, Kaleb Hammeke went past 1,700 career points, just the second Tiger to accomplish the feat in program history along with Alonzo Goldston, who holds the all-time scoring record at 1,766. Hammeke is now at 1,702 points.
The Tigers fell down by 11 early as MSU Denver's Caleb McGill was on fire early with 18 of his team's first 20 points, However, FHSU used a 15-0 burst to close the first half and take a 30-24 lead at halftime. Hammeke triggered the run with a jumper, then Traejon Davis added a 3-point field goal to trim the lead to four. McDowell put the Tigers in front for good by hitting back-to-back 3-point field goals, his third and fourth of the first half, pushing the Tigers on top 26-24. Kyle Grill got into the mix with a bucket and Davis capped the run with the last basket before halftime to make it a six-point spread.
The FHSU lead reached eight twice early in the second half, but MSU Denver trimmed the lead back down to one at the 15:18 and 9:48 marks. McDowell had the answer each time, hitting a layup after the first one-point margin and then a 3-pointer after the second. McDowell's second bucket of the sequence triggered another massive run by the Tigers, this time a 14-0 burst to take a 15-point lead with 5:15 to play. The Tigers kept their lead in double figures the rest of the way and reached the largest lead of the game, the 16-point final margin, on a pair of free throws by Hammeke inside the final minute.
FHSU held an MSU Denver team that entered the game shooting better than 50 percent from the field for the season to just 36 percent overall. The Roadrunners hit just 28 percent of their field goals in the second half. FHSU remained pretty steady throughout the game at 48 percent in the first half and 48.3 percent in the second half, finishing at 48.1 percent. The Tigers had 10 3-point field goals and drained 58.8 percent (10-of-17) of their attempts beyond the arc.
McDowell was a blazing hot 7-of-9 beyond the 3-point line, tying the 10th most made by Tiger players in a game in program history. The record is nine, reached twice, and eight has been reached seven times. He finished at 8-of-11 overall from the field and hit one of two free throws to reach 24 points. His previous high in a game this year was 11 points against Central Christian.
Hammeke was the only other Tiger in double figures scoring with 15 points. He tied his career high in assists with nine, reached for the fourth time and second time this season. He also pulled down a team-high seven rebounds.
McGill finished with 20 points for MSU Denver, scoring just two points in the second half after his 18 points out of the gate. Brayden Carter also reached double figures for the Roadrunners with 10 points and pulled down a team-high seven rebounds.
UP NEXT
Fort Hays State will host Regis University on Sunday (Dec. 22) at 2 p.m. inside Gross Memorial Coliseum. The Rangers will enter at 5-6 overall after a loss at Nebraska-Kearney on Friday evening.