FHSU Athletics
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Fort Hays State claimed its second MIAA Men's Basketball Tournament title with a 72-71 win over Central Oklahoma on Sunday afternoon at Municipal Auditorium. The Tigers grabbed the MIAA's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament and will find out their opponent tonight during the NCAA selection show at 10 p.m. on NCAA.com. The Tigers moved to 22-9 overall, while the Bronchos finished their season at 19-13 overall.
The Tigers came out on the good end of a back-and-forth battle that saw 18 lead changes and 12 ties throughout. The last minute was full of drama as Kyle Grill broke a tie and put the Tigers up three with just under a minute to play. But just a few moments later, Israel Hart launched about a 30-foot 3-point field goal, made it, and was fouled. He hit the free throw to put the Bronchos up one with 47 seconds to go. Kaleb Hammeke drew a foul with 27 seconds to go and hit both free throws to put the Tigers on top. Then in typical Tiger fashion, defense punched their ticket to the NCAA Tournament as they got a defensive stop just before the buzzer to hang on by a point.
Both teams struggled to find any separation in the first half. Fort Hays State held the biggest lead of the half, a seven-point advantage with the score at 29-22. However, UCO outscored FHSU 14-6 over the final six minutes of the half to take a 36-35 lead at halftime.
With about 14:30 to go in the game, UCO held its largest lead of seven points by a score of 48-41. But the Tigers showed grit and countered with a 9-0 run to take the lead back at 50-48. The Tigers held a six-point lead of 67-61 with 3:30 to play, but the Bronchos countered with a 6-0 run to even the score and set up the drama in the final minute of the game that bounced the Tigers' way.
Kaleb Hammeke finished with a team-high 22 points. He was a perfect 6-of-6 at the free-throw line, hitting his most crucial pair of the game. He was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player. Kyle Grill was also named to the All-Tournament Team, making his case with a 17-point performance going 7-of-10 from the field with three 3-point field goals. Dan Makuna provided a big stretch of minutes in the second half for the Tigers and finished with 11 points and a team-high seven rebounds. Hammeke dished out a team-high four assists. Lucas Hammeke was critical in FHSU's 9-0 run in the second half and finished with six points.
Hart led UCO with a double-double of 25 points and 10 rebounds. He also tied for his team's lead in assists with four. Jacobi Sebock had 16 points and JV Seat added 11. Hart and Seat were named to the all-tournament team as well.
Fort Hays State is a perfect 2-for-2 in MIAA championship games, also winning back in 2011. It was also the second tournament title under head coach Mark Johnson, who has now coached the Tigers to four conference titles (2 tournament, 2 regular season). The FHSU men are 6-1 overall in conference tournament title games in their NCAA Division II history.