By CONOR NICHOLL cnicholl@dailynews.net

Coach Mark Johnson and his Fort Hays State University men's basketball assistants have a different situation than in past years.

"We are a little unusual than we have been in the past," Johnson said. "We have a lot of guys that are kind of the same positions. Just from a coaching staff standpoint, just trying to figure out how they play offensively and just putting them together right now is a little bit of a struggle."

Fort Hays defeated Friends University 82-46 in its season opener on Sunday afternoon at Gross Memorial Coliseum.

Fort Hays played eight Tigers at least 18 minutes.

In the past two seasons, the Tigers have been guard-heavy and had little depth in the post.

On a 20-win team last year, Ryan Herrman started in the post and Tim Peintner earned all-conference honors playing the 4 position (power forward).

This year, Johnson brought in talented post players, including junior college transfers Dijon Smith and Ken Bowman.

Smith, a 6-foot-8 junior forward, had 12 points and seven rebounds against Friends, while Bowman, a 6-9 junior transfer from Hutchinson Community College, picked up 11 points and six rebounds.

The 6-6 Peintner led the team in scoring with 14 points, while the 6-6 Herrman did not score in 19 minutes.

"Tim, he is one of the best 4 men in our conference," Johnson said. "That is the struggle we are having, is how to get our rotation and play those guys together and what are we trying to get done offensively when we are playing those guys together. Hopefully, over time, we are going to try and figure it out."

Johnson will look for solutions when the Tigers will play their second regular-season game Wednesday at Gross Memorial Coliseum against Central Christian College. Tipoff is 7:30 p.m.

"Tim is better in the post," Johnson said. "He is a post player that steps out and shoots 3s. When we try to just play him on the perimeter, he is not nearly as effective, and then we have Ryan, we have Ken, we have Dijon, we have four guys that need touches in the post that are all out there at the same time. Gives us a little bit of struggle."

On the perimeter, Johnson has several newcomers -- junior Dominique Jones, senior guard Willie Hassell, senior guard Orrin Greer, sophomore Ben Congiusta and junior Corbin Kuntzsch -- that will see playing time; how much is still undetermined.

"The guard play, a lot of 2 guards, some guys trying to play the 1 that are mainly twos," Johnson said.

Greer, who missed all of last season with a knee injury, scored 13 points Sunday.

Kuntzsch is a two-year starter and collected nine points and seven rebounds, yet was 1-of-5 from beyond the arc. Jones played well, with eight points, but missed two 3-pointers. Overall, Fort Hays was 4-of-15 from beyond the arc.

"That is a concern for us all year," Johnson said. "When Corbin is making shots, he is great, he is as good as there is. But Corbin is not to that point yet where I would categorize him as a great outside shooter.

He is working at it every day. Dominique, we feel like is a good shooter, I think just being new right now. Definitely all year, that (outside shooting) is going to be a concern."

Jones' early-season problem was defense, but Johnson was pleased with Jones' defensive play against Friends.

"What he did the best is play defense," Johnson said. "That's where him and me are butting heads a little bit. He needs to be on the floor.

"He is a good offensive player, but he needs to understand that he needs to play defense if he wants to go play offense.

I thought (Sunday night) he did a pretty good job of that."

Hassell, who has played some point guard this season in exhibition games, came off the bench and played nine minutes. Congiusta, an NCAA Division I transfer from Tennessee-Martin, played 16 minutes and scored four points.

"We have to figure out how to put the pieces of the puzzle together," Johnson said.