KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Fort Hays State Men’s Basketball tied for fourth place in the MIAA regular season standings and receives the No. 5 seed for the MIAA Championship Tournament next week. The Tigers will host No. 12 seed Northeastern State in the opening round at Gross Memorial Coliseum in Hays on Monday at 7 pm.
Information on reserving tickets for Monday’s game can be found HERE.
The Tigers finished in a four-way tie for fourth place in the MIAA standings at 11-8. Missouri Southern claimed the fourth and final opening round bye to the quarterfinals of the MIAA Tournament by going 3-0 against Fort Hays State, Washburn, and Central Oklahoma. In a tie of more than two teams, the team with the highest winning percentage among the teams tied gets the highest seed. Fort Hays State went 4-1 within the tie, Washburn was 2-3, and Central Oklahoma was 0-5. So FHSU gets the No. 5 seed, Washburn gets the No. 6, and Central Oklahoma gets the No. 7 seed.
This will be the first time the FHSU men host an opening round game in the MIAA Tournament. The tournament went to a 12-team format in 2012-13 with the expansion of membership in the conference. The Tigers earned a bye to the quarterfinals in three of the four previous seasons, but two years ago went on the road in the opening round as the No. 9 seed. FHSU has once been the No. 1 seed and twice the No. 4 seed since the tournament expanded to 12 teams, so this will be just the second time in the five-year existence of the format that FHSU plays in the opening round.
The winner of Monday’s opening round game in Hays will move on to meet No. 4 seed Missouri Southern in the quarterfinals on Thursday (Mar. 2) in Kansas City at Municipal Auditorium. That game is slated for 8:15 pm.
Tournament Schedule
Monday, February 27, 2017 (Campus Sites)
Game 1: #9 Lincoln at #8 Lindenwood 7 p.m.
Game 2: #12 Northeastern State at #5 Fort Hays State 7 p.m.
Game 3: #10 Emporia State at #7 Central Oklahoma 7 p.m.
Game 4: #11 Southwest Baptist at #6 Washburn 7 p.m.
Thursday, March 2, 2017 (Municipal Auditorium Kansas City, Mo.)
Game 5: #3 Nebraska-Kearney vs. Winner Game 4 12 p.m.
Game 6: #2 Central Missouri vs. Winner Game 3 2:30 p.m.
Game 7: #1 Northwest Missouri vs. Winner Game 1 6 p.m.
Game 8: #4 Missouri Southern vs. Winner Game 2 8:30 p.m.
Saturday, March 4, 2017 (Municipal Auditorium Kansas City, Mo.)
Game 9: Winner Game 5 vs. Winner Game 6 12 p.m.
Game 10: Winner Game 7 vs. Winner Game 8 2:30 p.m.
Sunday, March 5, 2017 (Municipal Auditorium Kansas City, Mo.)
Game 11: Semifinal Winners 1 p.m.
Cover photo courtesy FHSU Athletics