UNK Men's Season Ends Falling At Ft Hays State, 88-73

Junior forward Dan Mukuna had a double double and Fort Hays State went 25 of 33 at the line to pull away from Nebraska Kearney, 88-73, Thursday night in Kansas.
This was the regular season finale for both; the 10-team MIAA Tournament bracket will be announced Saturday night after the completion of all other league games.
Fighting to make the NCAA Tournament, Hays (19-9, 11-8) stops a two-game losing streak to UNK who ends at 13-17 (6-13). The Lopers had a chance to make the MIAA’s but needed a win tonight and for Northwest Missouri to lose twice; the ‘Cats slipped past Newman tonight, 68-65.
“It’s hard to come here and win. Hays is good in this place; they came out in the second half, and we packed it in against them. They hit a couple of shots and then that opens things up,” said UNK head coach Marty Levinson on the KRVN Radio post-game show. “Then we’re chasing possessions, fouling and they did a good job of making their free throws.”
It was a back-and-forth first half with UNK up 27-26 after a rare triple from junior reserve forward DJ Jamerson (Cibolo, Texas). However, the Tigers closed the half on a 9-5 run to regain the lead and never looked back.
A German national who began his career at Division I Denver, Mukuna went for 24 points and 13 rebounds. He made 8 of 15 shots and 8 of 12 free throws. Junior starting guard Kyle Grill (18 points, eight rebounds) and senior reserve guard Muhamed Kante (17 points, three treys) also had big efforts for the Tigers. Hays ended the night plus 16 on the glass, made two more buckets than the Lopers and got 21 bench points.
“Every time we had a chance (in the second half) to get a stop, they made a shot. They also don’t give up many points at home. I thought if we could keep the game in the sixties or seventies, we should have a chance,” said Levinson. “We might’ve manufactured enough offense but needed a few more stops to get the win.”
For the final time, UNK was paced by senior point guard Ja’Bryant Hill (Dallas) who tallied 14 points, seven assists and four rebounds. He ends up with 1,825 college points, 951 of that coming at UNK. Next, senior wing Kendrick Gilbert (St. Louis) had 11 points to push his collegiate total to 1,010 (583 at UNK) while senior reserve sharpshooter Tom Connelly (Denver) had seven points. Finally, first-year Loper and senior starting guard Wade Williams (Huntsville, Texas) had five points.
“Those four seniors; that’s what you miss. You want them to have the opportunity to play postseason basketball and have a good experience,” said Levinson. “It didn’t go the way that we wanted, as far as success, but a lot of these kids grew up. They all are going to be awesome people in this world.”
Finally, true freshman reserve Zeek Brown (Kansas City) had nine points, Jamerson was at six and junior forward Anthony Swift (Las Vegas) fell a rebound short of another double double (12 & 9).
For the season, UNK had three different three game win streaks, beat rivals Wayne State, Chadron State and Hays, hit a buzzer beater to edge Southwest Minnesota (16-11) and won two MIAA road games.