November 18, 2017-Emporia State led by as many as 16 points in the first half and then held on for a 69-62 win over Drury on Saturday afternoon in White Auditorium.
The Hornets scored the first six points of the game in the paint on buckets from Stephaun Limuel and Hassan Thomas. A steal and dunk by Malik Hluchoweckyj gave Emporia State an 18-8 lead midway through the first half. The Panthers cut the lead down to seven on an Isaac Johnson three-pointer with 5:09 left in the half, but the Hornets responded with a 12-3 run over the next 4:33 to go up 39-23 with 36 seconds left in the half.
Drury scored on the opening possession of the second half and Brandon Hall answered with 17:53 left to keep the lead at 16 points. That would be the last score for Emporia State for the next 7:50 as the Panthers went on a 16-0 run to tie the game at 43 with 12:17 left. Hall broke the run with a pair of free throws with 12:03 remaining before Johnson gave Drury their first and only lead of the night on a three pointer with 11:48 left. Hall gave the Hornets the lead back on a lay-up with 11:14 left that ignited a 9-1 run for Emporia State.Â
Johnson got the Panthers back within two points on his fourth three-pointer of the night to make it 56-54 with 4:07 remaining. Thomas scored inside off a pass from Hall with 3:16 remaining to make it a two possession game. Emporia State then hit nine of ten free throws in the last three minutes to ice the win.
Brandon Hall led all scorers with 21 points as he hit 11 of 15 from the free throw line. Stephaun Limuel had a double double with 12 points and ten rebounds while Hassan Thomas added eight points and a game high 12 rebounds. Malik Hluchoweckyj had 11 points off the bench for the Hornets.
Emporia State is back in action on Monday night when they travel to Columbia, Mo. to take on Missouri. Tip-off is set for 7:00 pm in Mizzou Arena in a regular season game for the Tigers and exhibition contest for the Hornets.
