February 10, 2018-Emporia State outscored Missouri Western by ten in the second half but it was not enough to overcome an 18 point first half deficit in a 65-61 loss by the Hornets on Saturday night in White Auditorium.
An Hassan Thomas layup with 12:07 left in the first half pulled the Hornets within four at 14-10. The next score for Emporia State would not come until the 6:50 mark when Brandon Hall's layup made it 25-12. Hall hit a three-pointer 26 seconds later to cut the deficit to ten but the Hornets would go on another four minute scoring drought as the Griffons went up 33-15 with 2:43 remaining. Emporia State ended up trailing 37-23 at the half.
Missouri Western pushed the lead back to 18 with 18:15 left in the game and had a 51-34 lead with 13:44 left. The Hornets got back to back three-pointers from Grant Shell and Brian Morton along with an old fashioned three-point play from Stephaun Limuel to cut the lead to 51-45 with 10:09 remaining.
Limuel would score out of the final media timeout with 4:52 left to cut the deficit to 56-53 before Trey Brown hit a three-pointer to push the lead back to six points. Shell scored on a back door pass from Hall out of a timeout with 1:49 left to make it 59-55 and Hall hit a pair of free throws with 1:14 remaining to cut the lead to two.
After a Western turnover with 58.4 seconds left Vandiver missed a three-pointer and the Griffons corralled the rebound. Lavon Hightower scored with 20.9 left to make it 61-57. Hall was fouled on a drive to the basket and hit one of two free throws with 16.4 seconds left to make it 61-58. Down two possessions, Emporia State was forced to foul, and the Griffons connected on four of four free throws in the final 15.1 seconds before Hall hit a three-pointer at the buzzer for the final score.
Hall had a game high 22 points and Limuel added 19 points with eight rebounds. Grant Shell was the only other Hornet to score more than five points.
Emporia State will wrap up the home portion of the regular season on Tuesday when they play host to Washburn. Tip-off of the Senior Night Turnpike Tussle is set for 7:30 p.m. in White Auditorium.
