December 19, 2016 - The Emporia State men's basketball team defeated Lindenwood 70-59 Monday night at home to improve to 5-7 on the season and 2-2 in the MIAA. Hornets shoot 40.9% from three point line, draining nine threes.
The Hornets jumped out to a 7-2 lead to start the game but the Lions answered with a 5-0 run of their own to tie the score at 7 with 13:21 left in the half. Neither team would take more than five point lead the rest of the half with five ties. Lindenwood ended the period on a 7-2 run to take a 27-22 lead into the break.
Emporia State started the second half on a 10-0 run and took a 32-27 lead on a three-pointer from Jaylen Lowe. The Lions would use a 10-2 run of their own to go ahead 43-41 with 8:21 left. An old fashioned three-point play by LJ McIntosh gave Lindenwood their last lead of the night at 49-48 with 6:27 left. Jay Temaat got the first and last basket of a 10-2 run by the Hornets as they went up 58-51 with 4:34 remaining. The Lions would cut the lead to two with 3:07 left before Brandon Hall scored four straight to put the Hornets up 62-56 a minute later. Emporia State would hit six of seven free throws in the final minute to ice the win.
Brandon Hall led the Hornets with 17 points, seven rebounds and three assists. Josh Pedersen added 16 points and Jay Temaat had ten points. After shooting just 25% from the field and the three-point arc in the first half, Emporia State connected at a 62.5% clip from the field and were six of ten from the three-point line in the second half.
Emporia State will now take some time off as part of the NCAA Division II Life in the Balance break before playing host to Kansas Wesleyan on New Year's Eve. Tip-off for the last non-conference game of the year is set for 1:30 p.m. in White Auditorium.
