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Truman no match Thursday
2/12/2010
By CONOR NICHOLL
cnicholl@dailynews.net
Senior forward Tim Peintner issued a message to junior forward Ken Bowman before the Fort Hays State University men's basketball team's contest versus Washburn University last Saturday.
"It's going to be the bigs that are going to need to really step it up here," Peintner said.
Versus Washburn, Peintner, Bowman, senior Ryan Herrman and junior Dijon Smith all delivered solid games down low as FHSU ended a two-game losing streak.
Five days later, Bowman and Peintner paced the Tigers in a 82-45 home win against Truman State (Mo.) University on Thursday night at Gross Memorial Coliseum.
"Ken is starting to be a lot more aggressive and he is starting to be a lot smarter with the double-teams and stuff like that," Peintner said. "You are kind of starting to see him get a grasp on things and get a better understanding of the game and be more mature as the season goes along."
The 37-point win was the biggest for Fort Hays since it joined the MIAA four years ago. In addition, the 45 points was the fewest permitted by FHSU in a conference contest in its MIAA tenure. FHSU led 25-24 with 3 1/2 minutes left before it went on a 19-0 run. The win moved Fort Hays, ranked 10th in NCAA Division II, to 19-3 overall, 13-2 in the MIAA. Truman State dropped to 4-19, 2-14.
"It was just about coming up and being focused and sticking to the game plan and not getting away from it," Peintner said.
Bowman, saddled with foul trouble, had produced little in recent contests. Against Washburn, he came off the bench for the first time since December and had seven points and five rebounds. Versus Truman, Bowman had 13 points, tied for his highest output since Jan. 11. Bowman scored on a turnaround jumper early, then added a basket and two free throws in the first seven minutes. With FHSU leading by one, Bowman started the 19-0 surge when he took it inside on Truman's 7-foot junior center David Scott, was fouled and converted the three-point play.
"He was focused and ready to play tonight," Tiger coach Mark Johnson said. "We really have been trying to tell him about when you catch it, go to the basket and be aggressive and physical and I thought he did that and he got the rewards for that. I thought he got us off to a good offensive start in the first half."
Peintner, a returning all-conference player, had missed time with an ankle injury. Peintner came off the bench to score 14 points, one off junior Dominique Jones' team-high 15, and picked up a team-high nine rebounds. It's the most points and second-most rebounds since he returned from injury on Jan. 9. Peintner grabbed more offensive rebounds (four) than Truman State had as a team (three). Overall, FHSU outrebounded the Bulldogs 40-25 and held Truman State to 33 percent shooting.
"That's been a key ever since those two losses, was coming back and playing team defense," Peintner said. "Everybody has got to be on the same page as a whole because if you get one guy not apply that, that's not sticking to the game plan and you are going to have a breakdown."
Truman State stayed close early behind the shooting of junior guard Stefan Garrison (team-high 13 points, three 3s) who hit several treys coming off ball screens at the top of the key. The Bulldogs started 5-of-13 from 3-point range, but went 1-for-8 in the second half.
Fort Hays extended its lead to 30 with 13 minutes left and had several electrifying plays, including a dunk by Smith, multiple breakaway layups off steals from senior Willie Hassell, and a backcourt steal from senior guard Orrin Greer that led to a Peintner dunk.
"I thought Garrison hit a couple of really hard shots," Johnson said. "We didn't show quite as strong on the ball screens as we needed to. They are a physical team. They set a lot of physical screens and the few times we weren't right there on the hedge, Garrison really made us pay in the first half. I thought we did a better job in the second half."
| Scoreboard | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Sport | Date | Opponent | Score |
| 2/18 | SW Baptist | L 66-53 | |
| 12/1 | Oklahoma - Panhandle | L 66-60 (OT) | |