FHSU Athletics
Fort Hays State (12-4, 5-2 MIAA) at
Rogers State (14-6, 5-3 MIAA)
Thursday, January 23 • 7:30 p.m.
Claremore, Okla. • Claremore Expo Center
Radio: KJLS (103.3) CLICK HERE TO LISTEN
Video: MIAA Network: CLICK HERE TO WATCH ($)
Fort Hays State starts its key four-game road swing at Rogers State University on Thursday night in Claremore, Okla. This is the first of four-straight road games in MIAA play over a two-week span for FHSU. The Tigers enter at 12-4 overall, 5-2 in the MIAA, while the Hillcats are 14-6 overall and 5-3 in the MIAA.
Fort Hays State enters Thursday on a three-game win streak. The Tigers won all three of their games at home over the past couple of weeks, moving up to a second-place tie with Northeastern State in the MIAA standings. Washburn, the No. 1 ranked team in the nation, continues to lead the MIAA with an undefeated overall and conference record. The Tigers are coming off a 72-65 win over Northwest Missouri State this past Saturday, gaining their first regular season sweep of the Bearcats since 2012-13.
Rogers State won its most recent contest, a two-point win over Missouri Southern in Joplin this past Saturday. The Hillcats went up by two with about a minute and a half remaining and neither team scored the rest of the way. The last three wins overall for RSU since January 8 have been by three points or less. The Hillcats are 5-1 at home this season with the only loss occurring back on December 7 to Pittsburg State.
Rogers State holds a slight 5-4 advantage in the all-time series with FHSU, which started in 2019-20 when RSU joined the MIAA. The FHSU men are still in search of their first win in Claremore, where they are 0-4 so far. This will be the only regular season meeting with Rogers State in 2024-25. The teams met only once in the regular season last year, which was also in Claremore. The Hillcats won that contest 76-63.
Kaleb Hammeke is coming off MIAA Men's Basketball Athlete of the Week honors for the second time this season. Last week he averaged 17.5 points, 4.5 rebounds, 4.0 assists, and 2.5 steals per game in FHSU's pair of wins at home. He continues to lead the Tigers at 15.2 points and 4.7 assists per game. He went over 1,800 points in his career in the win over Northwest Missouri State this past Saturday.
Shaun Riley is leading the Tigers in rebounding at 6.9 per game. He adds 10.5 points per game. Riley is coming off his second double-double of the season with a 15-point, 11-rebound effort against Northwest Missouri State. The 11 rebounds were a season high for Riley. Kyle Grill has scored in double figures three-straight games and continues to rank second on the team in scoring at 11.9 points per game. Traejon Davis is coming off a season-high 18 points in the win over Northwest Missouri State.
Fort Hays State continues to lead NCAA Division II in scoring defense, allowing 58.4 points per game. The Tigers lead the category by 1.4 points per game over Miles (Ala.), which allows 59.8 per game and is the only other school allowing less than 60 per game on average. The Tigers rank fifth nationally in field goal percentage defense, allowing an average of 38 percent. The Tigers rank fourth nationally in fewest turnovers per game, averaging 9.3 per contest, which is just 0.5 shy of the national lead of 8.8 held by West Alabama.
Rogers State has three players averaging double figures in scoring, led by Kofi Hamilton at 15.6 points per game. Anthony Marshall, Jr. averages 13.8 per game and Caden Fry adds 11.4 per game.