Sewardsaints.com
In a game that saw eight ties and 13 lead changes, it was the Fort Hays Tech Northwest Tigers who squeaked by the Seward Saints, 73-68, on Sunday afternoon at Max L. Jones Fieldhouse.
Seward (16-8, 11-7 KJCCC) was outrebounded 35-28 in the game, allowing 13 Tiger (13-10, 8-9) offensive rebounds and 16 second-chance points in the loss.
The Saints have lost four conference road games in a row and are now 5-7 away from The Greenhouse, while holding a 9-1 record at home.
Seward opened a 7-2 lead in the early going but Tech used an 8-0 run to take a 10-7 lead five minutes in. The two teams exchanged leads for much of the next five minutes but a Tech three at 8:14 gave them a lead that they held for the next six minutes. The Saints retook the lead on a Brevyn Coleman layup with two minutes and change in the half, but it was short-lived as Tech outscored Seward 6-4 the rest of the way to take a 32-31 lead at halftime.
Tech's largest lead of the game came at the 9:48 point of the second half when Marquintez Dixon turned in a three-point play to give them a 53-35 lead. Seward tied the game at 59 with 4:27 to play off a Korbin Dowdell layup, and then a steal and layup from Dowdell put them ahead 61-59. Awit Mamer put in two free throws to give Seward a 63-61 lead but 30 seconds later, Bonfas Loria connected on a three for Tech to give them a 64-63 lead. The Tigers did not trail again.
The Saints were called for 15 second-half fouls, and Tech shot 17-21 from the free-throw line in the half. For the game, Seward finished 20-24 (83.3%) from the free throw line, Tech was 25-31 (80.6%). Seward was outrebounded 23-10 in the second half.
Bailey Milligan led the Saints with 14 points. Dowdell had 11 off the bench while Lucas N'Gombo chipped in 10.
Seward shot 22-48 (45.8%) from the field and 4-14 (28.6%) from three.
Tech shot 21-56 (37.5%) from the field and 6-28 (21.4%) from three.
Dixon led all scorers with 29 points to go with eight rebounds.
