The Emporia State men’s basketball team won a one-point thriller over Missouri Western last Saturday in a 67-66 battle that came down to the final seconds.
“Give our guys credit, they kept fighting and battled back,” said Shaun Vandiver, head coach. “We’ll take an ugly win over a pretty loss any day.”
The Hornets were ice cold to start the game. They made no points in the first six minutes. The Hornets held the Griffons to just four points in that span. Two threes by Charles Mckinney, senior graduate, got the Hornets on the board.
With 9:37 remaining in the first half, ESU trailed Western 13-12. The Hornets went on an 8-2 run during that stretch to take a 10-8 lead. Mckinney led the way in scoring with eight points.
Two straight threes by ESU forced a Western timeout with 4:58 remaining. One was by Terrence Moore, senior guard. The other was by Jay Temaat, junior guard. The Hornets were only up two after managing to give up easy looks at the rim on dribble penetration.
The Hornets ended the half on a 15-2 run to take a 35-26 lead into the locker room. As the Hornets got into more of a flow offensively, the tough interior defense took shape forcing Western to shoot more three’s which was not the Griffons strong suite.
The Hornets stretched their lead to double digits out of the halftime on a Mckinney dunk. Two straight three pointers by Western forced a Hornet timeout. Out of the timeout the Hornets looked stagnant on offense getting a shot clock violation.
A 7-0 run by Western forced an ESU timeout with 9:49 remaining. The Hornets were giving up buckets out of a full court press that the Griffons broke. Western’s defense tightened, forcing ESU turnovers.
With 6:42 remaining, ESU went on a 6-0 run to take a 57-52 lead, capped off by a Devin Spencer, junior forward, dunk. At that point in the game, ESU shot just 41 percent from the floor but did shoot 7-17 from three point range.
The game was tied at 59 with 4:33 to go. The Griffons scored on two, two point baskets and a three point play with a layup and a free throw. To that point, Moore and McKinney led ESU in scoring with 14 points.
The Griffons made the game look over as they were up four with less than a minute to go. However, Temaat knocked down a three with 41.8 seconds remaining. In the final seconds, ESU scored on a floater from Moore. ESU gained the lead with 10 seconds and the Griffons could not score, securing the ESU victory.
“I saw Jay trailing, but I saw a wide open lane and as a senior I took it and it’s good that I knocked it down,” Moore said. “It’s just good that we got the win.”
ESU will try to put three straight wins together as they travel to Topeka to take on Washburn in the first addition of the Turnpike Tussle this Saturday. A pep bus will be available to take students.
“We always talk about how good teams don’t panic,” Temaat said. “We’re always in the huddle saying, ‘Come on guys we can get this.’ And we pulled out a pretty exciting one.”
