February 14, 2019-Emporia State got out to a 9-0 lead and never trailed on the way to a 66-63 win over Central Oklahoma.
The Hornets got three-pointers from Hassan Thomas, Kam Rowan and Kooper Glick in the first 2:15 of the game. The Bronchos would close to within 12-6 with 14:30 left when the Hornets went on a 9-2 run to go up 21-8 with 11:45 left on Kooper Glick three-pointer. Their lead would reach 16 points at 31-15 with 2:38 left in the half before the Bronchos ended the half on a 10-3 run of their own to pull within 34-25 at the break.
Josh Holliday hit a three-pointer for the first points of the second half as UCO cut the deficit to 34-28 with 19:14 left in the game. Emporia State pushed the lead back to 12 points with a 6-0 run to take a 40-28 lead with 17:49 left. The spread would remain between eight and 13 points over the next ten minutes before Central Oklahoma used a 6-0 run to pull within 51-46 with 7:53 left.
Julius Jackson hit a three-pointer with 4:00 left to push the lead to 63-54 before the Hornets went on a 3:44 scoring drought. The Bronchos could only muster six points of their own during that time and two Adarius Avery free throws made it 63-60 with 1:39 remaining. Aaron McGee hit one of two free throws with 16 seconds left and Kooper Glick hit a pair from the charity stripe with 11.1 seconds left to put the Hornets up 66-60. Josh Holliday hit a three-pointer with under two seconds left for the final score.
Julius Jackson led Emporia State in scoring with 26 points and was a perfect 13 of 13 from the free throw line. He was joined in double figures by Kooper Glick with 17 points and Hassan Thomas with ten.
The Hornets are back in action on Saturday afternoon when they take on Northeastern State. Tip-off is set for 3:30 p.m.
NOTES
Julius Jackson has now hit 27 straight free throws to tie Robbie Ballard's Emporia State record for consecutive free throws set during the 2002-03 season.
