FHSU Athletics
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Fort Hays State picked swept its two-game road swing to Missouri in conference play with a 66-53 win at Lincoln on Monday (Jan. 2). The Tigers scored the first basket of the game and led the rest of the way, leading by 15 at the half before the final margin settled at 13. FHSU is now 10-3 overall, 5-2 in the MIAA, while Lincoln moved to 7-3 overall, 3-3 in the MIAA.
Fort Hays State opened the game with a 9-2 run, started on a 3-point field goal by Bjarni Jonsson. FHSU finished the run with seven straight points with baskets from Gilbert Peters, Kaleb Hammeke, and another from Jonsson. The FHSU lead reached double figures for the first time at 21-11 with 7:44 remaining before halftime on a jumper by Elijah Nnanabu. The Tigers eventually led by 17 on a pair of Geoff Hamperian free throws before Lincoln made the final bucket of the opening half. FHSU led 38-23 at the break.
The FHSU lead reached 18 four times in the second half. Lincoln tried to make a few bursts late in the second half, getting the lead down to 11 four times. However, FHSU kept its double-digit lead all throughout the second half to move to 2-2 in true road contests this season.
Hammeke led the Tigers with 18 points, making seven field goals and three free throws. Jonsson had 12 of his 14 points in the first half and made both of his 3-point field goal attempts in the game. Traejon Davis led the Tigers in rebounds with five, while Nnanabu led in assists with four.
Artese Stapleton led Lincoln with 15 points, followed by Kevin Kone with 14 and Sai Witt with 11. Witt and Kone each had eight rebounds, while Stapleton pulled down seven for the Blue Tigers.
FHSU limited Lincoln to just 37.2 percent shooting from the field, including just a 2-of-14 effort (14.3 percent) beyond the 3-point line. FHSU forced Lincoln into 20 turnovers, while committing just six.
Fort Hays State returns home at the latter portion of this week for a pair of MIAA games, starting with Missouri Southern on Thursday (Jan. 5) at 7:30 p.m.