HORNET MEN TAKE DEFENDING NATIONAL CHAMPIONS TO THE WIRE

February 7, 2018-Emporia State battled the defending national champions down to the wire before falling 55-50 to Northwest Missouri on Wednesday night in White Auditorium.
 
Neither team could get more than a four point lead over the first 14 minutes of the game.  The Bearcats went up 12-8 on a pair of free throws out of the under ten media timeout.  The Hornets tied the game at 12 on a pair of Stephaun Limuel free throws with 6:51 left.  Joey Witthus and Chris-Ebou Ndow hit back to back three-pointers to give NWMSU an 18-12 lead with 5:48 remaining in the half.  Northwest led 22-17 with 3:45 left when the Hornets went on an 8-1 run to end the half.  Limuel got a tip in with 46 seconds left to pull within a point and Garin Vandiver gave the Hornets a 25-23 lead at the half when he buried a three-pointer with four seconds left.
 
The Bearcats used a 9-3 run to open the second half and took a 32-28 lead with 16:41 remaining.  Northwest led 36-34 when Danny Hodge just beat the shot clock with a driving layup with 11:28 left for the fifth tie of the game.  Neither team would score over the next 3:20 until Justin Pitts found Ndow underneath for a backdoor dunk and a 38-36 Bearcat lead.  Grant Shell answered for the Hornets two minutes later with a three-pointer to give Emporia State a 39-38 lead. 
 
The teams traded leads over the next three minutes with Brandon Hall scoring in the paint with 3:59 left to give Emporia State a 43-42 lead.  Witthus scored inside out of the final media timeout with 3:27 remaining to give Northwest a 44-43 lead and after a Hornet turnover he hit a three-pointer to make it a two possession game with 2:53 left.
 
Hall hit a three-pointer with 1:35 remaining to bring Emporia State within three at 49-46 but Pitts hit two free throws to push the lead back to five with 1:10 left.  Limuel scored on a put back 46 seconds left to cut the deficit to three.  Pitts then answered with a driving layup with under five on the shot clock to give the Bearcats a 53-48 lead with 19 seconds left. The Hornets scored fairly quickly when Vandiver found Limuel inside with 11.3 seconds left to make it 53-50.  Pitts iced the win with two free throws with 9.0 seconds left and Brian Morton's three pointer was off the mark with four seconds left for the final score of 55-50.
 
Stephaun Limuel had his tenth double-double of the year with ten points and 12 rebounds and was the only Hornet in double figures.  Brandon Hall had seven points and five boards while Garin Vandiver scored seven as well.
 
The Hornets are back in action on Saturday night when they play host Missouri Western.  Tip-off is set for 7:00 p.m. in White Auditorium.