By CONOR NICHOLL

cnicholl@dailynews.net

In the first three years of Orrin Greer's collegiate career, the 6-foot-3 guard played at two different schools, Jacksonville (Tex.) College and University of Texas-San Antonio. Then, he transferred to Fort Hays State University, had major knee surgery and missed all of last season.

Sunday marked Greer's first game in two years and just his second start since 2006-07.

"I was excited from the jump," he said. "Jitters and everything were there."

Greer and the Tigers started slowly, but a strong effort on both ends yielded an 82-46 victory against Friends University in the season opener at Gross Memorial Coliseum.

Fort Hays moved to 35-0 against NAIA teams in the Mark Johnson era and held Friends' high scoring offense to 34 percent shooting.

"They are easy to guard and yet they are hard to guard," Johnson said.

"If you play really hard and fight through those screens and double the shooter and make him put it on the floor, they are going to be pretty easy to guard because they are real limited in making plays.

"But they are hard to guard in the fact that if you don't give the effort and fight through those screens, and get where you need to get, they just stand out there and play H-O-R-S-E and make a lot of shots," he added. "I give our guys a lot of credit. I thought they defended really well."

Greer, one of two new starters, had recovered from his knee surgery before he tweaked a knee on the first play of last Tuesday's exhibition game against Sterling College.

"Right now, he is not even showing close to the athleticism that he has," Johnson said.

Greer was one of several Tigers that started slowly. Fort Hays began the game 1-for-10 from the field and led 8-7 with 11:49 left in the first half. Greer missed his first shot and had a turnover in the first eight minutes.

"It just takes time," Johnson said. "The guys are missing shots they are capable of making right now. I think just not being comfortable and confident and being a little uptight. ... I think some nerves got us early."

Greer, though, didn't miss after his first field goal. He hit a jumper for a 17-9 lead with 9:58 left, his first basket in two seasons.

"I can't even explain it," he said. "Chills off of me."

Greer finished with 13 points on 5-of-6 shooting, one off senior Tim Peintner's 14 for the team high.

"I think he is starting to figure out how to score for us," Johnson said. "He needs to be a slasher-type. He has a good 15-17 foot shot."

In addition, Greer held Friends' Chris Jackson to 2-of-11 shooting, seven points and six turnovers.

"I think where he can do a really good job is he can change the game defensively for you," Johnson said. "(Johnson) is a good player and I thought he really took him out of the game. We need some big things from Orrin. If he can just get healthy and get some more games under his belt because he hasn't played for awhile, hopefully you are going to see some strides in his game and he can be one of the major players on our team and help us win on both ends of the floor."

Greer finished with seven first half points and helped the Tigers lead 31-18 at intermission. Fort Hays lengthened its lead after the break and kept the Falcons' offense from consistently scoring.

"I thought our guys really played well defensively." Johnson said. "Friends, we made them look a lot worse than they are."

"The most impressive thing was our defense," Greer said. "And our effort."

Friends averaged over 70 points per game entering Sunday and tallied 100 in its season opener.

"When you are playing hard and being physical, you can sometimes impose your will on opponents," Johnson said.

"I think that might have been what happened a little bit there in the second half. They are going to fight for so long, but if you keep going at them and going at them, there is going to be a letdown."

Guard Dominique Jones, a transfer from the Fashion Institute of Technology and a Harlem native, delivered an athletic play for a 68-34 lead. Junior Greg Schmidt made an errant pass to Jones in the half court offense. Jones jumped over the midcourt line and flipped it backwards right to Peintner. Peintner passed to Greer for an open jumper.

In the final minutes, Johnson cleared his bench and every player but one scored, including Jason Ball, a Hays High School product who hit a 3 for the first collegiate points of his career. Junior Dijon Smith had 12, while junior Ken Bowman collected 11 for Fort Hays. Senior Romar Jones led Friends with 13 points.

"Excited for the win," Greer said.