January 4, 2010

Fort Hays Takes MIAA's Top Spot from No. 1 UCM

By David Boyce

WARRENSBURG, Mo. -- Fort Hays State's men's basketball team made sure the sweet dreams Central Missouri might have had on a cold Monday night were going to be nightmares.

Junior guard Dominique Jones and junior forward Ken Bowman made it happen, especially late in the second half when they executed perfect team basketball that led to two Bowman dunks that fueled the Tigers to an 81-71 victory.

"I think that was the real turning point in the second half," said Bowman, who finished with 16 points. "It got us hyped up and let us know that we could pretty much win the game from there."

The poise the Tigers displayed at critical junctures was the reason they knocked off the No. 1 team in NCAA Division II on the road.

Fort Hays overcame an 11-2 deficit in the opening minutes and a 50-40 deficit early in the second half to come away with a 10-point win Monday night at the Multipurpose Building.

"We knew it was going to be tough coming in here. They have a lot of fans," said Jones, who was 10-for-15 from the field and finished with 28 points. "We had to come in and play hard. We know it is just one game. They were No. 1 in the country. There was a lot of speculation how great they were and we just wanted to show how great we are."

The Tigers, who improved to 12-1 overall and 6-0 in the MIAA, will surely improve their No. 13 ranking. Central Missouri dropped to 12-1 and 5-1.

"I thought they did a great job getting back on our shooters," Central Missouri coach Kim Anderson said. "You got to give them credit. They beat us. They got behind and they didn't panic.

"They are the best team in the league with the balance they have with quickness at guard and their big guys. They got the complete package.

"We will still field a team. We will be OK."

It was a performance Fort Hays should definitely be proud of. When the Tigers fell behind 10 early in the second half, they could have crumbled.

A couple of Fort Hays players started looking to the referees for calls that weren't going their way. Coach Mark Johnson told his players to focus on playing the Mules.

"We stopped worrying about the refs," Jones said. "Once we started to just play we were all right."

The turnaround quickly followed. The Tigers went on a 15-5 run and tied the game 55-55 on a three-pointer by guard Willie Hassell, who finished with 14 points.

Jones copied his backcourt mate and drilled a three-pointer that put Fort Hays up 58-55.

Jones and Hassell hit big shots throughout the game. But the key moments came with just over 4 minutes left.

The first happened when Jones drove to the basket and dished to Bowman for a dunk that gave Fort Hays a 70-64 lead.

"Dom is just a basketball player," Johnson said. "You look at him and he's only 5-7 and I wouldn't categorize him as really athletic. The guy has tremendous heart and an unbelievable feel for basketball. He's just a skill guy. He shoots it, he drives it and passes it."

The explosive play caused Anderson to call a timeout.

It worked, briefly. Ryan Harris knocked down a three-pointer that pulled the Mules to within three at 70-67.

Fort Hays came right back with the same combo of Jones to Bowman for a dunk. The Mules were done.

"The thing is you guys don't get to see Dominique every day in practice," Bowman said. "He does this stuff all the time. He really was the catalyst for our offense tonight."

The Tigers maintained a three-to-five point lead the next few minutes until putting the game away in the final minute.

"Our guys have been resilient all year," Johnson said. "We have a group of guys and we may not always play the right way sometimes and don't always play the smartest way but we have guys who want to win."

And that's what the Tigers showed. They didn't get rattled when Central Missouri forward Sanijay Watts was scoring almost at will inside in the first half. Watts finished with 23 points.

And Fort Hays didn't let a big deficit get them down.

"We have competitive guys," Johnson said. "If they are going to go down, they are going down trying their best and competing and showing courage."

To reach David Boyce, contributing writer for the MIAA, e-mail dboyce@themiaa.com.