“When you face Northwest Missouri you have to be disciplined, tough and wear them down,” said Shaun Vandiver, head coach. “We knew we had to put pressure on them to wear them down, because if you let these guys get on a rhythm, they’ll tear you apart.”
Emporia State broke a four game losing streak overall against Northwest Missouri with a 70-63 victory over the league ranked Bearcats on Wednesday, Jan. 13, in White Auditorium. Terrance Moore, senior guard, scored 24 points, tying Sean Robbins for seventh in career scoring at ESU with 1,396 points.
“We’re going to celebrate this win for a little bit,” Moore said. “We know once midnight hits we have to start getting ready for Missouri Western. We can hang with the best of the best when we execute, knock down our free throws and make shots; we just have to keep doing what we’re doing.”
Moore came out and knocked down the first field goal of the game. The Bearcats answered and jumped to an 8-2 lead and pushed their lead to 13-6 with 14:09 left in the first half. The Hornets went on an 11-0 run and lead the Bearcats 17-13 with 10:49 remaining. The Bearcats went on an 11-2 run altering their four point deficit to lead the Hornets 35-30 with 2:09 left in the half. The last two minutes of the half consisted of altering baskets between the teams, but the Bearcats took a five point lead into the break.
The Bearcats built their lead to 48-40 with 12:04 left in the game. The Hornets went on another 11-0 run, leading the Bearcats by three on another Moore layup with 8:25 left. The Bearcats came back and tied the game at 53 with 5:49 left. Jevon Taylor, junior guard, hit a three-pointer to give Emporia the lead for the rest of the game.
Emporia State hit seven of nine from the free throw line in the final 4:30 to seal their victory. Moore hit a pair of free throws to give The Hornets their biggest lead of the night 70-61 with 9.7 seconds left. Anthony Woods drove the last two points of the game to the basket completing the night’s margin at 70-63.
The Hornets shot 50 percent from field goal range, and 83 percent from the line. Moore led the night with 24 points, and Charles McKinney, senior forward, joined him in double figures with 13 points and a team high of six rebounds.
“Not starting this game didn’t have much of a change to the team,” McKinney said. “Coach felt like we needed more shooters on the court and rotate faster. It doesn’t matter to me if I score two points or 20 points, I just want to help my team win.”