Kansas City, Mo. –  A pair of free throws from Hadley Gillum with 1.3 seconds left in overtime pushed No. 7 seed Fort Hays State over No. 2 seed Missouri Southern 86-85 in the quarterfinals of the 2018 MIAA Basketball Tournament.
 
Southern (20-9) was led by 28 points and eight rebounds for CJ Carr. Kinzer Lambert had 17 points and six boards, while Elyjah Clark scored 14 and pulled down 10 rebounds. Enis Memic had 12 points and nine rebounds off the bench.
 
Fort Hays (19-11) had two score over 20 with 26 points and nine rebounds from Gillum and 23 points from Marcus Cooper.
 
Both teams traded baskets and leads early on, but a layup from Clark gave the Lions a 14-10 lead with 14:19 left in the first half. The Tigers tied it at 17 with 12:29 left and took a 20-19 lead after a layup from Gillum with 9:35 to go.
 
The teams were tied at 23 with just under seven to go before a pair of free throws from Carr gave the Lions a 25-23 lead but a bucket the next trip down tied it again. After a three from the Tigers, four free throws from Carr gave the Lions a 29-28 lead with 2:22 left. Hays tied the score at 30 with a minute to go but four-straight to end the half by the Lions, including a jumper from Carr as time expired gave Southern a 34-30 lead at the break.
 
A pair of free throws from Carr put Southern up 42-34 with 17:02 left and a three from Carr made the score 45-37 with 15:39 to go. The Tigers got within one after a three from Aaron Nicholson with 13:52 left and a layup from the Tigers with 13:03 put FHSU up 46-45 and force a Southern timeout.
 
The game was tied seven more times before the Lions took a 69-64 lead after a pair of free throws from Clark with 4:48 left in the game. Three more ties ensued as a free throw from Lambert with eight seconds left tied the game and sent it into overtime.
 
The Tigers took a three-point lead (84-81) with 1:33 left, but a layup from Carr and two more free throws from him gave the Lions an 85-84 lead with 47 seconds left. FHSU missed two shots on its final possession before Gillum made two free throws with 1.3 seconds left to go ahead. A final in-bounds pass was not on the mark and FHSU escaped with the win.
 
The Lions out rebounded the Tigers 52-32, including a 19-7 advantage on the offensive boards that led to a 26-9 lead in second-chance points.
 
Southern will now wait until Sunday night when the NCAA Division II Selection Show airs at 9:30 pm on www.ncaa.com to see their fate as to whether or not the Lions play on in the NCAA Tournament.