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Tigers can't hold off upset bid from Emporia

3/7/2010

By CONOR NICHOLL

cnicholl@dailynews.net

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- After his news conference, a visibly upset Mark Johnson rode the elevator up a floor level, got off, crumpled up a piece of paper and threw it in a trash can, releasing some of the frustration after a disappointing performance from his Fort Hays State University men's basketball team.

The Tigers, ranked 13th in NCAA Division II and third in the South Central Regional poll, were upset 65-61 by Emporia State University in Friday night's first round of the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association postseason tournament at Municipal Auditorium. Fort Hays committed 17 turnovers, its most since Jan. 20, and shot 10-of-17 (58.8 percent) from the free throw line, lowest in seven games.

"Every decision we made tonight was ridiculous and not very smart and I think Emporia deserves a lot of credit for putting us in those situations," said Johnson, the Tigers' ninth-year coach, said. "We have struggled when teams have gotten physical and tough with us. We seem to be soft at times and I thought their pressure created our softness and our inability to make quality decisions."

Last Sunday, the Tigers completed the regular season with a 94-47 home victory against Emporia State, the biggest margin of victory since FHSU changed conferences four years ago, and biggest in the schools' all-time series. Five days later, Fort Hays, seeded second in the tournament, trailed for the final 34 minutes to the seventh-seeded Hornets. Down 12 early in the second half, Fort Hays closed the gap to 55-53 in the final 90 seconds before turnovers and poor choices cost the Tigers.

"I don't think last week's game had any effect on our performance," Johnson said. "... We played hard tonight, that wasn't our problem. Our problem was just our ineptness. The game to me comes down to two things, we turn it over 17 times and we made 10-of-17 free throws."

"At crucial times, we made mistakes and turnovers that cost us," senior forward Tim Peintner said. "That's the key. You can't put the ball in the bucket and you turn it over too many times, you aren't going to have a chance."

Defensively, Fort Hays (22-6) sets a goal to hold every opponent to 65 points or fewer. The Tigers were 14-1 when they held an opponent to 66 points this season. Emporia State (14-14) shot 37.3 percent (19-of-51) from the field; FHSU was 15-0 when an opponent shot 40 percent or below. But the Tigers struggled offensively against Emporia State's pressure.

"Our team has two weaknesses and they are glaring weaknesses," Johnson said. "Toughness gives us problems. If you get real physical with us, we seem to struggle with that. Then, basketball IQ on the floor gives us problems. What happens is, when it's an easy, loose game, decisions are pretty easy to make because you are not forced into tough situations over and over. ... When people get real physical and tough with us, our softness kind of shows and our decision-making is kind of glaring. That's what's got us tonight."

Fort Hays is 5-5 in its last 10 games. The Tigers had a chance to host the regional, especially after University of Central Missouri, the MIAA regular season champion and the regional's top-ranked team, was upset by Washburn University on Friday afternoon. After Friday's loss, FHSU will travel next week for the NCAA tournament.

"We just dropped the ball," Peintner said. "Plain and simple. We dropped the ball tonight as a team. The door, like coach said before the game, cracked open a little bit. We had a chance to do something with it."

Emporia State continued its run of beating higher seeded teams. Two years ago, ESU defeated Fort Hays in the second round and became the first No. 8 seed to reach the championship game. This season, ESU and Washburn's victories yielded the first time in MIAA conference tournament history that both the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds lost in the first round. ESU, injury-plagued all season, has gotten healthier down the stretch and won five of its last six.

"They bounce back and respond with effort," Emporia State coach David Moe said. "Character would be the No. 1 thing as far as was what those guys have shown."

Both teams shot well from the field to start the game. At the first media timeout, ESU led 15-14 behind 7-of-9 shooting, while Fort Hays was 6-of-7. Emporia State carried a 33-27 lead into halftime as the Tigers turned the ball over 10 times.

"We probably had maybe four times we just threw it out-of-bounds and the guy couldn't catch it," Johnson said. "One where just threw the ball around the top of the key and everybody just stood and looked. I felt like we were timid."

"They came after us and we didn't do a good job of taking care of the ball," junior guard Corbin Kuntzsch said.

Early in the second half, Fort Hays, down 37-27, had another costly turnover. Peintner (team-high 17 points) grabbed a rebound and threw a pass to junior forward Ken Bowman, who was behind ESU's defense. The ball deflected off Bowman's fingertips and went out-of-bounds.

"As a senior, I have got to be smarter than that. I put a lot of that on my shoulders," Peintner said.

Fort Hays closed the gap to two, before the Tigers had several late turnovers and a costly foul 70 feet from the basket that put the Hornets at the foul line. Emporia State -- which finished 23-of-24 from the line -- made eight free throws down the stretch to clinch the win. ESU put four players in double figures, led by 14 points from senior Tim Niles.

"We just have to be a smarter team as a whole and make better plays and smarter plays," Peintner said.

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