Tigers outlast Central Christian

11/19/2009

By RANDY GONZALES

rgonzales@dailynews.net

The Tigers couldn't stop Sean High; they could only hope to contain him.

The Fort Hays State University men's basketball team overcame 42 points by High, a senior guard for Central Christian College, to win 85-66 Wednesday night at Gross Memorial Coliseum.

High hit six 3-pointers on its way to 24 points in the first half, which ended in a 35-35 tie.

"He's as good an anybody in our conference," Fort Hays coach Mark Johnson said. "He easily could be an MIAA all-conference player.

"He got the best of us," Johnson added.

But High couldn't sustain his hot hand in the second half. The lightning-quick 5-foot-10 left-handed shooter was 1-of-9 from the floor, including 0-of-6 from beyond the arc. High got most of his points from the foul line in the second half, sinking 16-of-17 free throws.

"We wore him down, or the game in general," Johnson said. "Hard to do that for 40 minutes."

Fort Hays (2-0) struggled shooting the ball, both from beyond the arc and in the paint. Fort Hays finished 11-of-38 from 3-point range (29 percent).

Johnson had an explanation for the shooting woes.

"I thought tonight it was one of two things," he said. "The guys weren't focused, or they were tight against the zone."

Central Christian (4-1), which counted the game as an exhibition, was smaller than Fort Hays, and used a zone defense, daring the Tigers to shoot from outside.

"Sometimes, that's the hardest shot to make," Johnson said.

Fort Hays trailed 42-37 barely two minutes into the second half, but responded with an 11-0 run over the next 2:25 to take a 48-42 lead.

In that span, senior forward Tim Peintner had a fast-break dunk, followed by a conventional three-point play on an alley-oop pass from junior point guard Dominique Jones.

"Give our guys credit," Johnson said. "We faced adversity tonight." Central Christian scored the next five points to get within 48-47, but did not score from the field over the final 14:13. Central Christian was 20-of-23 from the line in the final 14 minutes, including 14-of-15 by High.

"Forty two is 42," Johnson said, "but a lot of points in the second half were unimportant, down the stretch from the free-throw line."

Peintner led Fort Hays with a double-double, scoring a career-high 22 points and grabbing 10 rebounds; he also had a game-high five assists. Jones added 15 points, while sophomore guard Ben Congiusta scored 11 off the bench. Junior center Ken Bowman and junior Corbin Kuntzsch added 10 points each, and senior forward Ryan Herrman grabbed 11 rebounds in a reserve role.

"About the only positive we can take from this game -- our guys faced adversity," Johnson said.

Fort Hays will be at Kearney, Neb., Tuesday for a game against longtime rival University of Nebraska-Kearney.

Game notes

Junior forward Dijon Smith rolled his right ankle in the second half and did not return to the game. He sat on the bench with ice on the ankle. Johnson said he would not know Smith's status until today at the earliest. ... Jones was successful on his one free-throw attempt; he shot it with a one-handed, shot-put style, similar to what Don Nelson did when he played for the Boston Celtics. ... Fort Hays had five dunks, three by Bowman and two by Peintner, but Bowman also missed a fast-break dunk in the first half. ... Fort Hays outrebounded Central Christian, 54-30. ... Central Christian was 24-of-28 from the line, while Fort Hays was successful on all eight of its free throws. ... The announced attendance was 1,876.