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No. 22 Tiger men win again
12/10/2009
By CONOR NICHOLL
cnicholl@dailynews.net
Fort Hays State University senior forward Tim Peintner, the Tigers' lone returning Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association all-conference player, tallied three points against University of Nebraska-Omaha on Saturday. On Wednesday, Peintner didn't score, finishing 0-of-2 from the field.
Even without Peintner, the Tigers, ranked 22nd in this week's NCAA Division II poll, have delivered two strong offensive games, including a 78-66 victory over Northwest Missouri State University at Gross Memorial Coliseum. Fort Hays, tied at the half, used a 24-8 run after intermission to take control.
'We just had that talk in the locker room," junior guard Corbin Kuntzsch said. "We have a lot of guys on this team that can put the ball in the hole. ... Everybody is going to have their night. Maybe Ken (Bowman) one night, Tim the next, Willie (Hassell) the next, me the other night. There are so many people on this team that can put the ball in the hole."
Last Saturday, the Tigers won at University of Nebraska-Omaha 79-68 behind big games from Bowman, Hassell and junior point guard Dominique Jones. Wednesday night, Bowman, the team's tallest player at 6-foot-9, delivered his first double-double of the season with 23 points, the most by any FHSU player all season, and 11 rebounds.
"We got depth, especially in our frontcourt," Kuntzsch said. "I think we have got one of the best frontcourts -- if not in the league, then in the country. When they play together, they are really good."
Kuntzsch collected 21 points and eight rebounds.
Hassell scored 15 points and Jones tallied 11. In eight contests, five players have led the Tigers in scoring in a game. Last season, six players either led or tied for the team lead in scoring in 29 contests.
"I think in my years as a head coach, we have more guys that have the ability to score," ninth-year Tiger coach Mark Johnson said. "You look at Tim Peintner the last two (MIAA) games. Tonight, he had zero points. At UNO, he had three points. Last year, we couldn't have won those games. He had to perform. We had about three guys that had to show up and had to perform at a high level to win games."
The added depth has helped Fort Hays enjoy its best offensive production and best start since it joined the MIAA four years ago. In their first three seasons since switching conferences, the Tigers started 0-5, 1-3 and 0-2 in MIAA play. After Wednesday's win, Fort Hays improved to 7-1 overall, 2-0 in conference. Northwest Missouri State, under first-year coach Ben McCollum, dropped to 5-2, 1-2.
The Tigers will be at home Saturday against Missouri Western State University (6-1, 2-0 MIAA). Tipoff is 4 p.m. at GMC.
"We have always gotten a bad start since I've been here," Kuntzsch, a three-year starter, said. "We have always dug ourselves a hole and had to go on an eight-game winning streaks in the middle of the season. It's really nice (to be) 2-0 and we got to get this one on Saturday. It would be 3-0 before Christmas break and it would be real nice."
Since Fort Hays moved to the MIAA, the Tigers have averaged 68.4, 68.5 and 69.2 points per contest. Last season, the Tigers finished 20-9 with four conference games where they tallied at 78 points.
Fort Hays scored 78 points in both conference games this season and averages 82.6 points per game overall.
"Tonight, it was Ken and Corbin," Johnson said. "I think the Newman game, it was Tim. The pressure on our offense kind of gets not as severe as its been just because we have multiple guys. If one guy doesn't have it, or they are focusing on one guy, the other guys can step up and make things happen for us."
Northwest Missouri State, second in the conference at 91.5 points per game, erased a 12-point first half Tiger lead and tied the contest at halftime, 32-32.
"You felt like in the first half, you were up 12, you had momentum," Johnson said. "You had a chance. In the last five minutes, we just let them come racing back."
In the second half, Fort Hays opened on a 10-2 run on a 3-pointer from Hassell, a basket from senior Orrin Greer, two free throws by Bowman and a 3-pointer from Kuntzsch. Bowman, whose 11 rebounds set a new career high, also sank 9-of-10 free throws.
"I thought Ken was great tonight," Johnson said. "He was the best guy out on the floor. Big thing he did for a big guy -- he made his free throws. Still felt like he could have finished at a higher rate a couple times, but he rebounded better than he has. He is scoring. He is just getting better and better."
The Tigers extended the lead to 56-40 with 9:56 left in the game. Northwest Missouri State, led by 17 points from senior guard Girod Adams, never got within single figures the rest of the game.
"We got to learn how to play together and sacrifice minutes (and) scoring," Kuntzsch said. "I think we can be a pretty good ball team if we do that."
| 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 |