February 16, 2017-Emporia State began their final home stand with a 71-69 victory over Southwest Baptist on Thursday night in White Auditorium.
With the score tied at six, Emporia State went on a 12-3 run to take an 18-9 lead with 12:55 left in the half on a dunk by Jawan Emery. The Bearcats would come back to take a three point lead 3:21 left in the half and led 33-30 with 2:03 left. Emporia State closed the half on a 5-2 run to force a 35-35 tie at the break.
The Hornets used a 11-0 run to take a 49-37 lead with 12:43 left in the game. The Bearcats broke the run with 11:41 remaining to snap a 7:43 scoring drought. Emporia State eventually led by 14 points and had a 64-51 lead with 4:12 remaining on a Brandon Hall free throw. Southwest Baptist then went on a 16-5 run to cut the lead to 69-67 with 32.6 seconds left on an old fashioned three-point play by Cartree Pettis. After the free throw, Jevon Taylor found Jay Temaat deep for a layup that gave the Hornets a two possession lead. Karim Mouliom scored inside for SBU with 13.8 seconds to make it 71-69. Emporia State would miss four free throws in the final 10.8 seconds, but were able to survive when the Bearcats missed two layups in the final five seconds.
Brandon Hall led the Hornets with 17 points and four assists. He was joined in double figures by Josh Pedersen with 14 points and Jawan Emery with 11 points.
The Hornets have a week off before playing their final two regular season games, starting with Northeastern State on Thursday, Feb. 23 in White Auditorium. Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m.
