January 14, 2017-Josh Pedersen went six of six from the free throw line in the final 19.1 seconds to ice Emporia State's 68-63 win at Northeastern State on Saturday afternoon.
The first half was a back and forth affair that saw seven ties and eight lead changes in the opening 20 minutes. The Hornets took a 15-11 lead with 8:47 left on a pair of Garin Vandiver free throws. The RiverHawks answered with a 7-0 run to take an 18-15 lead with 6:13 left and would lead by four with 2:48 left in the half. Emporia State would hold Northeastern State without a field goal over the final 6:54 of the half as the RiverHawks final nine points of the period came from the free throw line. The Hornets would take advantage of the field goal drought to go on a 12-3 run over the final 2:21 to take a 29-24 lead into the locker room. Tyler Jordan scored ten of the 12 points during the run including a three-pointer at the buzzer.
The Hornets would never trail in the second half and built as much as a 17 point lead twice, the last coming with 7:50 left on a pair of Jevon Taylor free throws. Emporia State led 62-48 on a Jawan Emery layup with 4:23 left, but that would be the final field goal of the game for the Hornets. The RiverHawks scored the next 11 points to pull within 62-59 with 53.1 seconds left.Â
The Hornets were able to work the clock and Stephan Limuel got an offensive rebound off a missed three from Jordan with 26 seconds left. Pedersen was fouled with :19.1 remaining on the seventh team foul of the half for Northeastern State. He hit both ends of the one and one to give Emporia State a 64-59 lead. Cameron Martin hit two free throws with :15.0 left to cut the lead back to three. Emporia State got the ball to Pedersen, who entered the game ranked third in the MIAA in free throw percentage, and he again hit both ends of the one and one to put the Hornets up 66-61. The RiverHawks Montre Williams was fouled with 5.6 seconds left and he hit two to pull Northeastern State back within three at 66-63. Pedersen was fouled before the ball was inbounded and went to the line with the final one and one and again hit both to put Emporia State up 68-63. The Hornets applied token pressure in the back court and the RiverHawks were only able to get off a three at the buzzer that was off.
Tyler Jordan led the Hornets with a career high 17 points and was joined in double figures by Brandon Hall with 12 and Brian Morton with ten points.
The Hornets, who have now won six of their last eight games, return to White Auditorium on Wednesday, January 18 to take on Pittsburg State.
