Emporia State men’s basketball team lost their second game of the season to Missouri Southern 102-97, despite putting up 97 points and shooting 55 percent from the floor and 45 percent from three.
After the initial six minutes of the first half, the Hornets had a 13-12 lead. Despite a zone press from the Lions and a 2-3 zone half court look, the Hornets got into the middle of the defense and made five of their first eight shots.
With 9:21 remaining in the first half, the Lions held a 26-22 advantage. The Lions shot 11-17 in the first 11 minutes, a 64.7 shooting percentage, while ESU shot 57 percent (8-14) during that stretch.
With 4:37 left in the first half, Southern held a slim one point lead. The Hornets went to a 2-3 zone for most of that stretch, but couldn’t close the gap. The Hornets forced missed shots but struggled to rebound out of the zone, giving up seven offensive rebounds.
At halftime, the Lions led 47-44. ESU continued to trail in the first half. Southern shot 5-7 from three, taking advantage of the 2-3 zone that ESU threw out. C
Charles McKinney, senior guard, led all scorers in the first half with 14 points and he also had five rebounds to lead that category.
“When I shot it, it just felt good,” said Brandon Hall, freshman guard. “I saw it going towards the rim and I gave it a chance.”
With six minutes gone in the second half, the Hornets surged ahead 56-51 with a 12-4 run. ESU got out of the 2-3 zone and switched to man to man. The Hornets did not allow any offensive rebounds through that stretch.
The Lions answered with a 12-2 run. With 9:43 remaining in the game, Southern led 63-58 with six of their 12 points coming off of three-pointers. The Lions shot 2-3 from deep and shot 7-10 to that point.
“We mixed it up, we played some man and some zone,” said Shaun Vandiver, head coach. “We got in some foul trouble and after a while we couldn’t do the zone anymore.”
The Hornets took a three-point lead after Joshua Oswald, junior forward, shot a three-pointer with 4:27 to go. ESU shot 8-13 from three, while the Lions shot 9-14. The Hornets trailed in rebounding 23-19 and attempted seven more free throws than Southern.
The Hornets took a timeout with 2:09 remaining with the game tied at 81. The lead went back and fourth over the next two minutes until Charles Mckinney hit a layup to tie it at 86 and send the game into over time. A Missouri Southern three pointer pushed their lead to six with 45 seconds left in the overtime.
The Hornets will play the Pittsburg State Gorillas in Emporia. Tip-off is at 5:30 pm. on Saturday.
“We couldn’t get timely stops in the crunch,” said Terrance Moore, senior guard. “We didn’t really execute, we have to practice those things and get ready for Saturday.
