Can't
get to the game? Don't worry, we've got ya covered.
Tigers snap two-game skid
2/7/2010
By CONOR NICHOLL
cnicholl@dailynews.net
TOPEKA — Head coach
Mark Johnson and the coaching staff reviewed the Fort Hays State
University men's basketball team's schedule on the trip down to
Washburn University on Saturday. The game concluded a 10-game stretch
that started in early January and featured seven road games that
stretched throughout Nebraska, Kansas and northeast Missouri.
The
trip yielded the Tigers' first two NCAA Division II losses last weekend
in a road swing through Northwest Missouri State University and
Missouri Western State University.
"Being at Fort Hays State,
not to make excuses for ourselves, but we have to be in buses a lot
longer than everybody else," Johnson said. "We have to spend nights in
hotel rooms a lot more than everybody else. I am not so sure that
stretch didn't mentally just wear us down. I thought our guys came out
really focused tonight trying to find a way to win this game and
respond from what we just went through this last week."
The
Tigers bounced back and ended the five-week journey throughout the
conference with a 74-62 victory over Washburn at Lee Arena. Fort Hays
finished the trek with an 8-2 mark, a record that kept them in the
top-10 in Division II and gave them an opportunity to still win a
Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association title and host the
South Central Regional.
"Our guys were committed to finding a
way to win this game," Johnson said. "They wanted to be in the hunt.
Now with six games to go, we are still in the hunt."
Fort Hays,
ranked eighth in Division II, never trailed in the contest, led by at
least 11 points all second half and improved to 18-3 overall and 12-2
in the conference.
Washburn dropped to 12-10, 6-9 MIAA. Helped
by the strong bounce-back effort, the Tigers are one game back of
University of Central Missouri for the conference lead.
"Here's
the problem: you start off 11-0 and you lose two in a row, everyone
whether it be players or coaches, fans, people around the program, they
think the sky is falling," Johnson said. "They have to realize that if
someone would have said, 'You are going to start the conference season
11-2, you would probably say, 'okay, we'll take it. I'll pay you a
hundred dollars and take it.
"There wasn't any lack of
confidence, our guys needed to come out here and our mindset was going
to be, we were going to win this game no matter what, if it was going
to be 75-70, if it was going to be 52-50, if it had to be 42-40. We
were going to win this game and I thought our guys had that mentality,"
he added.
After the losses ended the Tigers' 13-game winning
streak, FHSU took two days off from basketball. On Thursday, the team
returned to practice.
"As much physical wear and tear and
traveling of the season since Jan. 1, I think we just needed to get
away and do some soul searching and not hit the panic button by any
means, but just decide do we want to make this a conference race or
not," Johnson said.
The Tigers responded with an effort
reminiscent of the first half of MIAA play, a stretch where Fort Hays
posted eight victories by double figures. The Tigers, one of the
country's top shooting teams, shot 52 percent from the field and 50
percent from beyond the arc, the best shooting percentages since before
the losing skid. Four players scored in double figures, including a
game-high 17 from senior guard Willie Hassell and 15 from junior
forward Dijon Smith. The improving Smith saw his first start of the
year.
"We were struggling, we were in a little bit of a slump,
so we got to get back at it," Smith said. "We got to work hard in
practice. We got to come back from our slump."
Defensively, FHSU
allowed Northwest Missouri and Missouri Western to shoot 42 and 50
percent from the field, respectively, in the losses. On Saturday, the
Tigers limited Washburn to 40 percent shooting, including 2-of-19 from
3-point range.
In addition, Washburn junior forward De'Andre
Washington, averaging 18 points a contest, finished with nine.
Sophomore guard William McNeil led the Ichabods with 15 points. The
Tigers return home Thursday against Truman State (Mo.) University.
They'll finish the season with four home games in the final six regular
season contests.
"I thought tonight we gave a great effort," Johnson said.
| Scoreboard | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Sport | Date | Opponent | Score |
| BB | 03/17 | Missouri S&T | W 2-1 (10) |
| SB | 03/17 | Bethany | W 6-1 |
| SB | 03/17 | Bethany | W 8-1 |
| BB | 03/16 | Misosuri S&T | L 13-4 |
| MB | 03/14 | Central Missouri | L 80-73 |
| BB | 3/13 | NW Missouri | W 13-10 |
| BB | 03/13 | NW Missouri | W 4-3 |
| MB | 03/13 | Central Oklahoma | W 80-64 |
| SB | 03/08 | Fort Lewis | W 5-4 |
| BB | 03/07 | No. 9 Emporia State | L 13-7 |
| BB | 03/06 | No. 9 Emporia State | L 16-4 |
| BB | 03/06 | No. 9 Emporia State | W 3-0 |
| MB | 03/05 | Emporia State | L 65-61 |
| BB | 03/05 | No. 9 Emporia State | L 10-3 |
| WB | 03/04 | No. 15 Emporia | L 72-66 |
| WB | 02/28 | No. 12 Emporia State | L 87-80 |
| MB | 02/28 | Emporia State | W 94-47 |
| SB | 02/28 | Quincy | L 6-0 |
| SB | 02/27 | Mo Southern | W 9-3 |
| SB | 02/27 | Missouri S&T | L 8-3 |