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HAYS, Kan. – The Northeastern State men's basketball team lost 77-49 to Fort Hays State University Saturday afternoon inside Gross Memorial Coliseum.
 
The RiverHawks lost their fifth straight to fall to 3-13 on the season and 1-8 in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association. The Tigers improved to 11-6 overall and 5-4 in the MIAA.
 
Junior forward Dakota Caudill tallied a career-high 20 points on 7-of-10 shooting. He also pulled down seven rebounds in 37 minutes.
 
NSU shot 31.9 percent (15-for-47) from the field, 27.3 percent (6-for-22) from behind the 3-point line and 50 percent (13-for-26) at the charity stripe. FHSU shot 60 percent (30-for-50) overall, 47.4 percent (9-for-19) from distance and 66.7 percent (9-for-12) at the free-throw line.
 
Jeremy Wilson paced the Tigers with 17 points. Achoki Moikobu added 14, Royce Williams contributed 12 and Dom Samac chipped in 11.
 
The Tigers jumped out to a 25-3 lead before carrying a 42-17 advantage at halftime. They led by as many as 37 points in the second half before the RiverHawks were able to cut the deficit to 28 points at the final buzzer.
 
FHSU outrebounded NSU 40-22 and led in assists, 22-11. NSU finished with fewer turnovers (14-20) and more steals (9-6).
 
Northeastern State returns home from its four-game road swing with a 7:30 p.m. matchup Jan. 21 against Emporia State.
 
NORTHEASTERN STATE COACH JASON TINSLEY
Initial statement...
"We started out not making shots. We got down 25-3 and spent the rest of the game trying to dig ourselves out of that hole, which is really tough to overcome. We had our chances but we missed a lot of shots in the lane and we missed 13 free throws. We missed a lot of easy shots. Rebounding is something that we've been trying to work on all year long. Tonight we were outrebounded by 18 which is also tough to overcome."
 
On being more aggressive and getting to the foul line more...
"We were able to get the ball inside more to Dakota Caudill and C.J. Winzer and had some guards cutting to the basket. We've got to start finishing those shots more often. We didn't convert some of those easy shots at the basket, but we were getting in there more which is good."
 
On individual play...
"I thought Dakota Caudill was good tonight. He had 20 points and seven rebounds. Those points were not from volume shooting. We've got to get some more guys rebounding the basketball, but Dakota did a good job of that today. Amir Gilliam's effort tonight was good. We had 37 hustle plays today and Amir had 16 of them. We had to sit Amir out last game and he came back today with a good effort and a good attitude. He played a lot better. Those hustle plays are things that don't show up on the stat column but they're important to us. Sixteen is a heck of a night's work."
 
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