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Tiger men down Pitt
2/25/2010
By CONOR NICHOLL
cnicholl@dailynews.net
From Jan. 16 to Feb. 20, the Fort Hays State University men's basketball team played three home games. The Tigers, who have the longest travel schedule of any Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association school, had seven road games in that stretch. Also, FHSU mainly uses eight players, who all see at least 18 minutes a game.
The travel and toll of playing high-level minutes has shown, especially in a 69-60 win against Pittsburg State University on Wednesday night at Gross Memorial Coliseum. The Tigers built a 21-point lead in the first half but PSU kept the game close after intermission.
"The thing that I noticed about our team that is most glaringly sticking out is that we are a really tired basketball team," Tiger coach Mark Johnson said. "I think we started the game off, didn't have the energy. Really, we pushed through, had a great 13 minutes to finish the half. We got off to a bad start in the second half, then I thought we gave energy again and we played well and then we hit the wall."
Fort Hays, which has already locked up second place in the conference, improved to 21-5 overall and 15-4 in the MIAA. After a 17-1 start, the Tigers went to 4-4 in their last eight games. They are the first FHSU team in any sport to finish in the top two since Fort Hays switched conferences four years ago.
"We know there are a lot of things that we have to work on, but we didn't expect (anything) but greatness from this team," junior guard Dominique Jones said. "Starting up the season, we played real good. The last eight games, we slacked off a lot. We've got to get back. We showed that we are capable of doing it. It's something that we've got to hang in there and get the win."
The Tigers, ranked 15th in NCAA Division II and third in the South Central Regional, will celebrate Senior Day on Sunday against Emporia State University. The women's game starts at 2 p.m., while the men's game starts at 4 p.m.
Sunday also is "Blackout the Coliseum" day and all fans are asked to wear black. FHSU has four seniors on the team, Orrin Greer, Willie Hassell, Ryan Herrman and Tim Peintner. Herrman is a five-year player, while Peintner is a four-year player.
"I probably need to back off," Johnson said. "We have been riding them pretty hard and I think we squeezed all we can. The best thing that we can probably do between now and Emporia is get a lot of shooting and just rest. Not only the physical fatigue, but the grind of the season, mentally we are fatigued. We just need to get regrouped, home game, Senior Night. Four guys, it would be really nice and special to finish 16-4 in league and 22-5. I think that is a heck of a year."
Pittsburg State (8-18 overall, 2-17 MIAA) is last in the conference under 15th-year coach Gene Iba. Iba, the nephew of legendary coach Henry Iba, will retire after this season. He is 486-375 in his coaching career, including 260-172 with the school's first five NCAA tournament berths in his PSU tenure. Before the game, Iba was honored with a standing ovation and greeted at midcourt by Johnson, a former Gorilla player in 1991-93.
"He is a great ambassador of basketball," Johnson said. "He is a great coach with a tremendous record. He is a great person. He was the first guy when I got this job here, I went up to my office, the first message on my answering machine is from him. He didn't have to do that. I am this young kid getting a job. I just thought that was real classy of him. As a young coach, especially if you have questions or things, he was a guy I felt comfortable calling."
Fort Hays, paced by 15 points apiece from junior guard Corbin Kuntzsch and Jones, bumped its lead to 39-19 late in the first half and led 41-24 after intermission. Pittsburg State whittled away the deficit to 60-51 with 6 1/2 minutes left before FHSU held on. Senior Rodney Grace led the Gorillas with 19 points.
The Tigers improved to 13-1 at home this season, tied for the best home record in the MIAA.
"They always keep the energy up if it is was 2,000 or if it was 5,000," Jones said. "Everybody is always supportive and that's what we like. We keep winning games, we are going to bring more people out."
| Scoreboard | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Sport | Date | Opponent | Score |
| 2/18 | SW Baptist | L 66-53 | |
| 12/1 | Oklahoma - Panhandle | L 66-60 (OT) | |