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 (Feb. 27) at 7 pm.

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.