Men's Basketball Wins Over Indy, 93-90

Fort Hays Tech Northwest Men's Basketball wrapped up conference play on Wednesday evening, winning over the Independence Community College Pirates, 93-90.

The Tigers would get out to a slow start offensively, with the Pirates quickly taking advantage, getting out to a 9-1 lead in the opening minutes. However, the Tigers would soon find their rhythm, gradually closing the gap, tying the game up, 12-12, at the 14:46 mark, and prompting Independence to call a timeout. Tech would tie the game up again, 16-16, at the 12-minute mark. Both teams continued to battle, moving the ball quickly in transition. The Tigers evened the score at 24-24 after a two-handed dunk from Marquintez Dixon, but the Pirates responded with a three-pointer to regain the lead. Indy would extend their lead out to seven points 37-30 before the Tigers went on an 8-0 run to take the lead with 3:21 left in the half. After three more minutes of battling back and forth, the Tigers would go into halftime leading by one, 44-43.

Neither team would waste any time in the second half, with sophomore Kalik Sharpe almost immediately getting to the bucket for a layup. After maintaining a narrow lead, the Pirates would cut down the lead again, tying it up 57-57 with 13:21 left. Both teams would continue to tie and exchange leads through the rest of the half with the Tigers briefly extending their lead before Indy cut it back down. With 1:37 left, Kalik Sharpe would make a pair of free throws after a hard foul, to put Tech up 88-87. Indy would make one of two free throws at the other end to tie the game up again.

With just 45 seconds remaining, Francisco Monreal put the Tigers back on top with a clutch layup, but the Pirates quickly answered with their own layup to even the score at 90-90. With the game clock winding down and the shot clock nearly in sync, sophomore Chase Harris took control. Dribbling down the clock, Harris then stepped to the right wing, draining a decisive three-pointer to seal the 93-90 win for Fort Hays Tech.

Kalik Sharpe led the way In scoring for the Tigers, with a 23-point, 9-rebound performance. Da'King Smith contributed 16 points, including a perfect 5-5 from the free-throw line and 3-6 from beyond the arc. Chase Harris, Marquintez Dixon, and Harold Thompkins all added 12 points each, rounding out the balanced scoring effort.

With the regular season now finished, Men's Basketball finished #8 in the conference standings, matching them up against #9 Dodge City Community College. The game will be hosted by FHNW on Saturday at 5:30 PM.