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Tigers come up short at regional
3/16/2008
By CONOR NICHOLL
Hays Daily News
STEPHENVILLE, Texas -- With 4:44 left Saturday afternoon, the Fort Hays State University men's basketball team was down nine points to the University of Central Oklahoma. The Tigers had one player injured, one player fouled out and several starters with four fouls.
However, the Tigers, who authored several late-game comebacks this season, nearly erased the deficit. They cut the lead to three points and had a chance to tie in the final seconds.
"The last five minutes I think exemplifies our basketball team," Tiger coach Mark Johnson said. "The (end) describes our character and that pretty much describes our whole season and why we are where we're at."
However, Fort Hays couldn't overcome a significant gap in fouls and free throws and shot the 3-pointer below its season average. The Tigers eventually lost 65-64 in the first round of the NCAA South Central Region at Tarleton State University and ended the season at 19-11.
Central Oklahoma, the No. 3 seed, overcame a bout of food poisoning that affected the entire squad, including leading scorer Sam Belt, and limited pre-tournament practice.
"We have overcome a lot of adversity all season, but I think this was the ultimate adversity," UCO coach Terry Evans said. "I don't know if we are the best team in the region, but we are one of the toughest teams. We overcame a lot today."
The Tigers couldn't overcome the fouls, including some that, according to Evans, usually aren't called in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association.
"They are a very physical basketball team," Evans said. "They push and shove you every possession and the referee isn't going to call every possession, so they can get away with a lot of pushing and shoving. I think in their league they (officials) allow the game to be a little bit more physical.
"In certain parts of the country, games are called differently. You take the Big Ten Conference and that is going to more physical than the Pac-10 or ACC. I watched a NBA game the other night and that wasn't this physical (as today)," he added.
Fort Hays and Central Oklahoma (26-5) played an aggressive game, but the Bronchos, helped by a strong inside presence and an injury to Tiger junior forward Shawn Emerick, held a 36-17 edge in free throws. The foul shots were the third most Central Oklahoma shot all season and the most since Nov. 29.
The Tigers were whistled for 29 personals, tied for the second most this year.
Three players fouled out, including senior guard Jake Sims, who hadn't fouled out all season. The 36 UCO free throws attempted tied a season-high for an opponent against Fort Hays.
Emerick, the Tigers' biggest player at 6-foot-8 and 245 pounds, picked up three rebounds in the first nine minutes before he rolled his ankle and missed the rest of the game.
Fort Hays, which has been inconsistent inside this year, mainly used sophomore Ryan Herrman (210 pounds), Sims (205) and Tim Peintner (200) down low against the Bronchos' bigger players, including Belt (220 pounds), forward Terry Tucker (6-7, 250) and Michael Sosanya (6-6, 225).
UCO's trio combined for 38 points, 17 rebounds and 18 foul shots.
"We were trying to make it a physical game," Johnson said. "We put ourselves into bad situations at times. Those are big guys. We don't have that kind of bodies to match up to the wrestling match going on down there."
Fort Hays led for most of the first half and even took a one-point lead at 25-24 when Peintner hit a jumper from the free throw line with three and a half minutes left.
However, helped by four foul shots and a foul at halfcourt on junior guard Terry Jeffries when the first-half buzzer sounded, UCO took a five-point lead into intermission.
UCO never relinquished the advantage in the second half. Fort Hays tied the game at 40, but a 17-8 Bronchos run built on free throws and perimeter defense gave UCO a nine-point lead in the final minutes.
Fort Hays, reliant on the 3-pointer this year, entered the game shooting 39 percent beyond the arc. The Tigers had sunk seven of their first 24 3-pointers (29 percent) off UCO's switching defense.
"We had to be smarter coming off screens," Evans said. "Back cut, curl cut, just read the defense. In the first half, we had tunnel vision and we missed Jake a couple of times. We just had to turn it around. We did a little bit better job of it in the second half."
Especially late.
The 3-pointer helped Fort Hays start its comeback. Evans, who finished with a game-high 22 points, nailed a long jumper and a NBA range trey off a Sims pass to cut the deficit to four.
"This team found a way to get themselves back in the game," Johnson said. "That is just the kind of character that we have on this team."
A drive by freshman guard Corbin Kuntzsch and a three-point play from Sims helped Fort Hays trail 61-58 with 30 seconds left.
With less than 20 seconds remaining, Evans had the ball on the left wing. He faked UCO guard John Neal and had an open trey. Evans' shot, though, hit the front rim.
"I had the shot," Evans said. "I was just winded at the time and it came up short. I will be looking back at this shot for the rest of the year. I can't be fatigued in big games like that."
UCO hit foul shots in the final seconds, trumping two NBA range treys from the Tigers and ending Fort Hays' chance at another trademark comeback.
Sports reporter Conor Nicholl can be reached at (785) 628-1081 Ext. 127, or at
cnicholl@dailynews.net.
| Scoreboard | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Sport | Date | Opponent | Score |
| BB | 5/04 | Pittsburg State | W 17-5 |
| BB | 5/04 | Pittsburg State | L 4-3 |
| BB | 5/03 | Pittsburg State | L 15-7 |
| BB | 5/03 | Pittsburg State | L 5-4 |
| SB | 5/02 | Central Missouri | L 3-1 |
| SB | 5/02 | Missouri Western | W 3-2 |
| SB | 5/01 | Pittsburg State | W 6-0 |
| SB | 5/01 | Emporia State | L 11-0 |
| BB | 4/30 | Kansas Wesleyan | W 14-1 |
| BB | 4/30 | Kansas Wesleyan | W 12-2 |
