HAYS, Kan. — Griffon Men's Basketball outrebounded the Fort Hays State Tigers 34-32 but fell 73-49 on the road Saturday afternoon at Gross Memorial Coliseum.
JaRon Thames led the No. 22-ranked Griffons (7-2, 2-2 MIAA) with 11 points. Taye Fields also added seven points and four assists, and Josh Book helped out with six points off the bench.
Fort Hays improves to 7-2 and 3-1 in the MIAA. On the boards, the Griffons collected 11 offensive rebounds and scored 10 second-chance points.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Missouri Western struggled out of the gate, falling behind 35-16 heading into halftime.
Fort Hays kept widening its lead after intermission, constructing a 64-34 advantage MWSU went on a 7-0 run, finished off by Zion Swader's three, to shrink the deficit to 64-41 with 3:49 to go in the contest. Hays responded and outscored the Griffons the rest of the way, ending the game with a final score of 73-49. Western got a boost from its bench in the period, as non-starters accounted for nine of its 33 total points.
GAME NOTES
- This is the first time MWSU has lost back-to-back games since Feb. 18-22.
- Thames led the Griffons with 11 points.
- Western got a team-high five rebounds from Justin Bubak.
- Thames has scored 11 or more points in all nine games this season.
UP NEXT
The Griffons return to St. Joseph this week and play No. 21 Emporia State (8-1, 2-0 MIAA) on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. at Civic Arena.
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