FHSU Athletics
Fort Hays State (18-8, 13-7 MIAA) at
Missouri Southern (16-9, 12-7 MIAA)
Saturday, February 18 - 3:30 p.m.
Joplin, Mo. - Leggett and Platt Center
Radio: KJLS (103.3)
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The Fort Hays State men's basketball team returns to the court Saturday afternoon at Missouri Southern. Tipoff is set for 3:30 p.m. inside the Leggett and Platt Center. FHSU is looking to even the season series with Missouri Southern and lead the Lions by just a half game in the MIAA standings. The Tigers are 18-8 overall, 13-7 in the MIAA, while the Lions are 16-9 overall, 12-7 in the MIAA.
Missouri Southern took the first meeting with FHSU this season by a score of 68-56 in Hays. It snapped a three-game win streak for FHSU against MSSU. The Tigers won the last meeting with the Lions in Joplin back during the 2020-21 season by a score of 102-94 in overtime. Kaleb Hammeke and Jared Vitztum each had 32 points in that game.
FHSU remains a half game back of third place in the MIAA standings, currently held by Lincoln and Emporia State. Missouri Southern sits in sixth a half game back of FHSU.
The Tigers are coming off a 71-49 win at Pittsburg State on Thursday night. The win gave the Tigers a season sweep of the Gorillas, which is has done to four opponents now this season. That list also includes Central Missouri, Lincoln, and Newman.
The Lions are coming off an 86-59 win over Nebraska-Kearney on Thursday night in Joplin. After facing the Tigers on Saturday, Missouri Southern has to play at Washburn and Northwest Missouri State next week.
Kaleb Hammeke is now just one assist away from another milestone in his career at FHSU. He is looking to become just the fourth player in program history with at least 1,000 points and 300 assists. That group includes Raymond Lee (1,615 pts, 899 ast), Craig Nicholson (1,449 pts, 628 ast), and Mark Wilson (1,631 pts, 556 ast). Hammeke looks to become just the ninth player in program history to have 300 career assists. Hammeke passed the 1,000-point mark earlier this season in a win at Newman and now has 1,064 for his career.
Hammeke continues to lead the Tigers at 16.1 points and 3.6 assists per game. Gabe Pieschl is the top rebounder for FHSU at 5.8 per game. Elijah Nnanabu is close to averaging double figures in scoring at 9.9 points per game, while Bjarni Jonsson averages 8.7 and shoots over 50 percent beyond the 3-point line. Traejon Davis is the top scorer off the bench at 6.9 points per game.
Winston Dessesow leads the Lions in scoring at 13.0 points per game, followed by Vinson Sigmon Jr. at 12.4 and Avery Taggart at 11.6.