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Date: February 22, 2018
Time: 7:30 PM
Location: Hays, KS. 

Bolivar, Mo. - Southwest Baptist (12-14, 6-10 MIAA) plays their second to last regular season game this year when they travel to Fort Hays State (16-11, 9-9 MIAA).

SCOUTING THE BEARCATS
The Bearcats carry a 12-14 (6-11 MIAA) record in the 2017-18 season. The Bearcats are coming off a wild game Saturday against Washburn on Senior Day. In overtime, the Ichabods defeated the Bearcats by a final score of 102-100. SBU is paced by senior forward Logan Hovey who averages a team high and 3rd best in the MIAA conference 19.2 points per game and 5th best 7.7 rebounds per game. Marlon Alcindor averages 12.4 points per game along with leading the MIAA in free throw percentage at 94.7% . Chris Rossow leads the team in assists with 4.6 a game, and Damian Prgomet chips in 8.0 points per game and 6.1 rebounds per game. As a team, the Bearcats are scoring 77.6 points per game and shoot a 3rd best in the MIAA and 13th best in the NCAA 41.0% from behind the arc while giving up 75.7 points per game on 43.4% shooting from opponents. The 43.4 field goal percentage defense ranks fourth in the MIAA.

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SCOUTING THE TIGERS
Fort Hays comes into the game with a 16-11 record (9-9 MIAA). On Tuesday, Fort Hays was on the road against Nebraska Kearney and lost to the Lopers, 65-62. The two starting forwards for the Tigers, Hadley Gillum and Brady Werth, are their top two scorers. Gillum leads the team with 16.9 points per game and 6.5 rebounds per game. Werth averages 12.3 points per game and pulls down 4.7 rebounds per game. Guard Kyler Kinnamon leads the team in assists with 4.3 per game, which also ranks sixth in the MIAA. Fort Hays scores 75.0 points per game while allowing 68.6. They shoot 76.3% as a team at the line and collect an MIAA leading 7.0 steals per game.

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THE COACHES
SBU head coach Clark Sheehy is in his fourth season on the SBU bench, holding a 48-64 (25-52 MIAA) record while at SBU. Coach Sheehy holds a career coaching record of 229-165 across twelve seasons while coaching six different All-Americans and over 20 athletes that have moved on to play professional basketball. Under Sheehy, SBU has produced two All-MIAA selections.

Mark Johnson enters his 17th season as head coach of the Fort Hays State University. He is the all-time coaching wins leader in FHSU history with a career record of 328-156 in 16 seasons. Johnson has led the Tigers to seven NCAA Tournament appearances.

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ALL-TIME SERIES 
The all-time series between the two squads is very tight as Fort Hays barely has the edge, 11-10. These two teams last met in early January with Southwest Baptist coming away with a 73-68 win at home. 

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BEARCATS LAST OUTING
(2/17/18) - Bolivar, Mo. - In a game that saw each team score 100 or more points, two players from each team put up more than 30 points, and an extra period, the Washburn Ichabods came out on top 102-100 over Southwest Baptist. The win improves Washburn's record to 19-7 (13-4 MIAA) while SBU falls to 12-14 (6-11 MIAA). 

Brady Skeens for Washburn led all scorers with 32 points on 15 of 18 from the floor while also hauling in 13 rebounds and dishing out 6 assists. For SBU, Logan Hovey shined on his Senior Day with 31 points and 5 rebounds on 63.2% (12-19) shooting including 66.7% (4-6) from downtown. Hovey scored 18 of his 31 in the first half while the other 13 came in the second half and overtime. Chris Rossow had his second straight great game with a career high 21 points along with 8 assists. Marlon Alcindor added 12 points and Karim Mouliom chipped in 10 points and 6 rebounds. 

As a team, SBU shot 54.7% (35-64) on field goals, 55.0% (11-20) on threes, and 82.6% (19-23) on free throws. Rebounds were dead even as both teams collected in 35. The Bearcats assisted on 18 of their 35 made field goals and had the edge in second chance points, 14 to 12 and in bench points, 27 to 22. 

Both teams jostled early on with multiple lead changes. A three pointer from Kai Woodfall at the 9:57 mark gave SBU a 22-21 lead. Washburn retook the lead 29-28 on a layup from Skeens only to see Alcindor answer with a layup that gave SBU an advantage they would hold the rest of the half. SBU's last field goal of the half came on a Hovey stepback three that helped the Bearcats to a 41-38 halftime lead. 

Quickly into the second half, SBU went on a 9-2 run to give them their first double digit lead of the game, 50-40. The Bearcats kept coming as Woodfall swished home another three to make it 59-45, forcing a Washburn timeout. The timeout did not hinder the Bearcats as they exploded for another 12-4 run to give them a 71-49 lead. The run was finished off by an Andy Campbell three. The next six minutes though Washburn outscored SBU 25-3 to tie the game at 74. With 2:41 left, Washburn held a two point lead but Logan Hovey made a layup, was fouled, and converted the free throw to give SBU the lead back, 82 to 81. Washburn answered with a three but Hovey came through again with a layup with 1:21 left to send the game into overtime. Both teams had chances late but they missed on their final possessions. 

In overtime, Washburn gained a 92-87 lead on a three only to see Rossow answer with three to trim it back to two, 92-90. Washburn got the lead back to five with 20 seconds left but Rossow raced up the court laid it in and was fouled. He made the free throw to make it just 98-96 Ichabods. The Ichabods cashed in two free throws on the other end and then Rossow was fouled attempting a three. He made all three free throws to make the score 100-99 with 4 seconds remaining. The Ichabods made two more free throws but then fouled Rossow on the ensuing inbounds. Rossow made the first and then intentionally missed the second but SBU could not corral the rebound to allow Washburn to come away with the 102-100 win.

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TIGERS LAST OUTING
(2/20/18) - Kearney, Neb. – Nebraska-Kearney edged Fort Hays State 65-62 in a tight battle Tuesday night (Feb. 20). Late miscues by the Tigers aided the Lopers in escaping a game where neither team built more than a six-point lead. FHSU moved to 16-11 overall, 9-9 in the MIAA, while UNK evened the regular season series with FHSU and improved to 14-13 overall, 10-8 in the MIAA.
 
Both teams struggled offensively in the early going as UNK was the first to climb over 10 points at the 12:04 mark of the first half. A 7-0 run by UNK produced its biggest lead of the game, 15-9, with 10:29 to go. But, the Tigers chipped away and took the lead eventually, 26-24, before the count at halftime settled at a 29-29 tie.
 
FHSU had the upper hand early in the second half, coming out of the break on a 6-0 run to build its largest lead of six points, 35-29, at the 17:55 mark. Hadley Gillum opened the scoring with a basket that pushed him over the 1,000-point mark in his career at FHSU. He is the 20^th player in program history to reach 1,000. Gillum scored all 15 of his points on the night after halftime. Brady Werth, who chipped in a pair of baskets in the run, went on to lead the Tigers with 17 points.
 
Even with the early run, the Tigers could not shake the Lopers and the teams battled in a tight contest the rest of the way through. From the 12:43 mark all the way to the end of the game, neither team built a lead larger than four points.
 
Down by three with under a minute to play, UNK fouled Marcus Cooper on a stickback bucket off an offensive rebound. He sunk the free throw to tie the game for the 12^th time, 62-62. Cooper finished the game with 13 points and 12 rebounds for his second double-double of the season.
 
With the game tied, UNK called timeout with 21 seconds remaining to set up offense with the shot clock off. However, on the inbounds, Cooper overplayed the ball and fouled Lane Rohrich, who went to the line and sunk 1-of-2 attempts. FHSU still had a chance to win the game, but Kyler Kinnamon opted to go to the basket with 10 seconds remaining and his running layup attempt was off the mark.
 
Isaiah McKay of UNK went to the free-throw line and dropped a pair of shots, giving UNK a three-point lead. FHSU still had a chance to tie, but Grant Holmes had the ball stolen away beyond the three-point line on the right wing and could not get a potential tying shot off.
 
Fort Hays State shot only 34.9 percent from the field and 27.8 percent beyond the three-point line. UNK was worse beyond the arc at 23.5 percent, but managed to shoot 42.3 percent overall from the field.

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