FHSU Athletics
KEARNEY, Neb. – Fort Hays State held a four-point halftime lead, but saw Nebraska-Kearney catch fire in the second half and win on its home floor 85-63 in the regular season finale at the Health and Sports Center. The Lopers end the regular season 12-15 overall and 10-9 in the MIAA. FHSU dropped to 19-9 overall and 12-7 in the MIAA.
The Tigers took a 31-27 lead into halftime, holding the Lopers to just 28 percent shooting in the first half. However, that trend shifted violently the other direction in the second half as the Lopers shot a blazing hot 64.5 percent from the field after the half. With six minutes to go in the second half, UNK was at 80 percent for the second half.
FHSU held a 36-29 lead with just over 18 minutes remaining before UNK went on a very quick 18-0 run to lead 47-36. The momentum swing was too much to overcome as the Lopers kept pouring in basket after basket. UNK led by as many as 24 at one point in the second half before the final margin was 22.
For the Tigers, it was their most points allowed in a game this season, going past the previous mark of 82 allowed to Concordia-St. Paul early in the season.
With his first basket of the game in the first half, a 3-point field goal, Kaleb Hammeke reached 2,000 points for his career as a Tiger. He finished the game with 11 points and now has 2,008 in his career. He also dished out a team-high five assists.
Shaun Riley the Tigers with a double-double performance of 16 points and 12 rebounds. It was his fourth double-double at FHSU. Kyle Grill and Traejon Davis also added 11 points each.
Allen Taylor led the Lopers with 29 points, while Chase Thompson added 22. Kendrick Gilbert (12) and Ja'Bryant Hill (10) also reached double figures.
The Tigers finished fourth in the MIAA regular season standings, one game back of a second-place tie between Rogers State and Pittsburg State at 13-6. However, the Tigers may have a chance to have a higher seed in the conference tournament than RSU or PSU with the conference using KPI rankings. The Tigers ranked second in the rankings going into Saturday and beat both RSU and PSU head-to-head in the regular season.