March 2, 2019-The Emporia State men punched their ticket to Kansas City with a 100-95 win at Central Oklahoma on Saturday afternoon in Edmond, Okla. With the win the Hornets secured the eighth seed will take on Northeastern State on Wednesday afternoon in Municipal Auditorium.
The game was an offensive showcase to start out with UCO's Adarius Avery and ESU's Kooper Glick each scoring 18 points in the first half. With the score tied at 35 the Bronchos went on a 12-3 run to take a 47-38 lead with 3:31 left in the half. Julius Jackson and Kooper Glick combined to get the final four points of the half to pull the Hornets within 51-46 at the half.
The Hornets took their first lead of the second half at 68-66 with 13:30 left on a pair of Julius Jackson free throws. Jordan Hemphill scored on a fast break for the Bronchos with 7:16 left to knot the score at 83, but the Hornets would respond with a 10-3 run to take control of the game. Jackson started the run with a driving layup and Aaron McGee got a put back layup with 6:14 left to put the Hornets up 87-83. After a three-pointer by UCO's Colt Savage cut the lead to one, Jackson responded with an old-fashioned three points play and then knocked in a jumper from behind the three-point line to put the Hornets up 93-86 with 4:04 left.
An Avery dunk with 1:08 left cut the lead to 95-93 before Jackson got another hoop and harm three-point play to put the Hornets up 98-93 with 44.4 seconds left. Avery scored his 37th point of the night on another dunk with 16.0 seconds left but Kooper Glick hit his eighth and ninth free throws of the night for his 35th point and gave Emporia State a 100-95 lead with 14.4 seconds left. The Bronchos got two more shots off but could not connect as the Hornets won an MIAA game with 100 points for the first time since a 104-97 win in double overtime at Lincoln on January 4, 2014.
Kooper Glick led Emporia State with a career high 35 points and was joined in double figures by Julius Jackson with 29 points. It is the most combined points scored by two Hornets in a game since Kaleb Wright (40) and Terrence Moore (29) scored 69 points in a 96-85 win against Southwest Baptist in the first round of the 2014 MIAA Tournament in White Auditorium.
With the win, Emporia State secured the eighth seed in the MIAA Tournament and will play ninth seeded Northeastern State to open the tournament at 12 noon on Wednesday, March 6 in Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Mo.
NOTES
Kooper Glick's 35 points are the most scored by a Hornet since Terrence Moore scored 38 in an 84-78 win at Central Missouri on January 10, 2015.
The Hornets finished the MIAA 8-11, doubling their conference win total from last year.
The Hornets eighth seed is their highest seeding in the MIAA Tournament since earning the seventh seed in 2014.
