December 1, 2018- Emporia State Men's Basketball wrapped up their three game home stand on Saturday with a 82-70 win over Rogers State in White Auditorium. The Hornets remain undefeated in White Auditorium at 3-0 this season.
After a scoreless first minute, the Hillcats put the first points on the board when Jordan Johnson made a jumper on the left wing with 18:58 on the clock. Kooper Glick answered quickly with a three pointer to give the Hornets the 3-2 lead.
The Hillcats took a 4-3 lead with 18:02 before Hassan Thomas knocked down a corner three to give the Hornets the lead indefinitely. The Hornets used a 12-0 run over a span of 3:30 to extend their lead to 15-4 with 13:47 on the clock.
After exchanging baskets back-and-forth to a score of 20-8, the Hillcats cut the Hornets lead down to 20-15 with 8:33 remaining in the first half. Over the next 7:00, the Hornets went on a 20-6 run to extend their lead to 19 at 40-21 with 1:33 on the clock. The Hillcats scored the final four points of the half and the Hornets took a 40-25 lead into halftime.
The Hillcats came out of the half firing and closed the gap with the Hornets lead to 42-37 with 16:39 on the clock. A layup from Malik Hluchoweckyj followed by a three pointer from Sawyer Glick gave the Hornets a ten point lead before the Hillcats cut it back to single digits at 47-39.
With the Hornets leading 47-39 and 15:28 on the clock, the two teams went on a 2:26 scoring drought that was broken by a Hillcats score with 13:02 left in the game. Teams exchanged buckets leading into the under ten minute media timeout and the Hornets led 54-43 with 9:49 remaining in the game.
The Hornets would take their largest lead of the second half at 64-49 when Kooper Glick made a layup with 6:01 on the clock. After a back-and-forth battle, the Hillcats cut the Hornets lead to 71-63 with 2:49 remaining before the Hornets closed out the 82-70 with 11-12 free throw shooting in that span.
The Hornets shot 44% from the field, 32.1% from beyond the arc, and 78.4% from the free throw line. Malik Hluchoweckyj led the Hornets with 20 points while Kooper Glick followed closely with 19 and Hassan Thomas recorded a near double-double with 15 points and nine rebounds.
Emporia State will be back in action on Thursday, December 6 as they travel to Kearney, Nebraska to take on Nebraska Kearney to open MIAA conference play.
