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Tiger men advance to semifinals in Texas
3/14/2010
By CONOR NICHOLL
cnicholl@dailynews.net
WICHITA FALLS, Texas -- Through the last six weeks of the regular season, Fort Hays State University men's basketball coach Mark Johnson saw his team finish 5-5. The struggling Tigers sometimes didn't play in what Johnson labeled "attack mode." Johnson talked with his team and several players individually, including senior guards Willie Hassell and Orrin Greer, asking them play hard, don't hesitate and be aggressive.
On Saturday, the attacking and physical Tigers, ranked 14th in NCAA Division II, defeated University of Central Oklahoma, 80-64, in the first round of the NCAA tournament at D.L. Ligon Coliseum on the campus of Midwestern State (Texas) University. Fort Hays, the regional's No. 3 seed, improved to 23-6, while Central Oklahoma, ranked sixth in the regional, finished the season at 22-7.
"This weekend, this regional, we were just going to go attack," Johnson said. "If it is good enough, it is good enough. If it's not, it's not. But we are going to go down attacking on the offensive end and trying to make things happen."
The victory produced the second NCAA tournament victory in the nine-year Johnson era, first since a victory over St. Cloud State in 2005-06. The Tigers will face University of Central Missouri (26-3), the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association regular-season champions and the regional's second-ranked team, today at 4:30 p.m. FHSU split with UCM during the regular season, including a 79-63 home loss on Feb. 13 that Greer called "embarrassing."
"We got off to such a great start to our season and probably to be quite honest, we were not as good as our 17-1 record was, but anytime you get off to a great start, you build and anticipate and have expectations," Johnson said. "The last thing you want to do is come here and lose and go home."
Offensively, Fort Hays had its top three scorers, juniors Dominique Jones, Corbin Kuntzsch and Ken Bowman, all finish in single figures and combine for 17 points. However, junior forward Dijon Smith tied his career-high with 20 points, while Hassell and Greer set career-highs with 21 and 17 points, respectively. Greer called Saturday his best performance all year. Fort Hays, which has six players that average at least eight points a game, outscored UCO 41-12 in bench points.
"We knew we could step up and win with them out of the game," Hassell said.
"Smith and Hassell, they came in and played extremely well," UCO head coach Terry Evans said. "Both of those guys probably played better than any of our players -- period -- and they brought them off the bench."
Defensively, the Tigers played physical with Central Oklahoma, a guard-heavy team that ranked fourth in the country with 90 points a game. Fort Hays held Central Oklahoma to 31 percent shooting, including 3-of-19 from 3-point range and limited the Bronchos to their lowest point total of the season.
"We were just trying to stay aggressive on defense," Greer said. "Coach was telling us the whole game, defense was the key to winning. I was just trying to stay aggressive and help our team out."
"Just did a great job defensively and that was the reason why we won the game," Johnson said. "Offensively, we just tried to loosen up. We felt like as the season as gone on, we have gotten a little tight."
The defensive effort and standout individual efforts trumped a foul-filled contest and plenty of mistakes from the Tigers. Two years ago, the squads combined for 53 free throws in a 65-64 Central Oklahoma victory in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. This season, the teams had 48 combined fouls. Four players fouled out, including three from Central Oklahoma. FHSU also had 20 turnovers, tying its season-high, and allowed 21 offensive rebounds.
"I think the key to the game was we made a lot of mistakes, look at 20 turnovers, 21 offensive rebounds, but I thought that a team that averages 90 a game and to hold them to 64, I think that was really impressive by our guys," Johnson said. "I thought our defensive effort, our first shot defense, was good."
In an odd start that yielded several stoppages because of scoreboard errors, Fort Hays picked up four fouls in the first 70 seconds, but stayed aggressive.
"We are just going to keep coming," Johnson said. "We believe in playing hard and aggressive and physical and tough. If you call them, then you call them, but we are not going to change the way we play. That's the way we think the game should be played. We are going to be in your face. At times, we need to be smart and eliminate the silly fouls. Overall, I can't fault our guys, we are going to get after you."
The game was tied at 28 late in the first half when FHSU went on a 10-0 run and took a lead it would relinquish.
"They were physical and they were better," Evans said.
First, Greer hit two free throws for a 30-28 lead. Then, Greer stole a pass at midcourt, drove in and was intentionally fouled. Greer made both free throws. The Tigers retained possession because of the intentional foul and Hassell hit a 3-pointer for a 33-30 lead. Then, Hassell fed Smith down low for a basket and senior forward Tim Peintner hit a trey that extended the lead to 38-30.
"When Willie is aggressive and trying to make things happen, he can score with the best of any of them," Johnson said. "... Orrin, as we go on later in the year, has been more confident and making things happen. Dijon just has a knack of getting open around the basket a little more than Ken."
Central Oklahoma, which has no true post player -- "I'm the biggest guy on our team right now and I weigh about 205 pounds," Evans joked -- attempted 750 3s this season and made an average of 10 3s a contest. The bigger Tigers, who led all second half, limited Central Oklahoma to 26 percent shooting after intermission, including 1-of-7 from 3-point range.
"I knew it would be a physical game and a physical game doesn't favor us this year," Evans said.
In addition, Fort Hays, which rarely ran any set plays, shot 54 percent in the second half. Seven of the FHSU's eight players scored. Senior Ryan Herrman was scoreless but contributed three offensive rebounds and an assist.
"He does things that maybe if you are sitting in the stands you don't notice as much and the stat sheet doesn't tell you the line, but Herrman probably has to do with us winning as anybody on the floor tonight," Johnson said.
Junior Daunte Williams, a first team all-region selection who can play all five positions and averages 21 points and eight rebounds a contest, led UCO with 19 points. He and Chris Rhymes (15 points) were the lone Bronchos in double figures against FHSU's aggressive play.
"There are a lot of things that we did wrong tonight," Johnson said. "But if we were going to go down, we were going to go down attacking."
| Scoreboard | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Sport | Date | Opponent | Score |
| 2/18 | SW Baptist | L 66-53 | |
| 12/1 | Oklahoma - Panhandle | L 66-60 (OT) | |