HORNETS NEARLY PULL UPSET OF TOP RANKED NORTHWEST MISSOURI IN MIAA TOURNAMENT

March 7, 2019-Thanks to a career high 38 points from Julius Jackson, Emporia State battled top ranked and undefeated Northwest Missouri down to the wire in an 82-79 loss at the MIAA Quarterfinals in Municipal Auditorium on Thursday.
 
The Hornets were looking to knock off the #1 seed in the MIAA Quarterfinals for the second time in school history and led 5-3 90 seconds into the game.  The top seeded Bearcats responded with a 16-4 to go up 19-7 with 10:52 left in the half.  That is when Jackson went to work for the Hornets.  He would score the next 21 straight Emporia State points. With Northwest leading 28-18 Jackson went on a personal 10-2 run, hitting two three pointers, a lay up and two free throws during the run, to pull Emporia State within 30-28 with 2:42 left in the half.  The Bearcats responded with a 6-1 run of their own to go up 36-29 before Kooper Glick hit a jumper with three seconds left to pull with 36-31 at the break.
 
The Bearcats built their lead to 11 in the second half and still led by double digits at 62-52 with 8:55 left.  Duncan Fort hit a three pointer with 6:46 left to cut the lead to four and after a Joey Witthus layup Kooper Glick buried a three to pull Emporia State within 66-63 with 4:31 left. A Trevor Hudgins layup gave Northwest a 71-66 lead but Jackson scored the next five points to pull Emporia State into a tie at 71-71 with 2:21 left.
 
Witthus hit a pair of free throws to put the Bearcats back in front with 2:05 left before Fort scored inside off a feed from Kooper Glick to knot the score at 73 with 1:36 left.  The Bearcats worked the shot clock and Witthus scored inside with 1:12 left to go up 75-73.  It would be the last field goal for NWMSU as they proceeded to hit seven of eight free throws in the final 29 seconds.  After Kooper Glick hit one free throw with 50 seconds left Witthus hit two to give the Bearcats a 77-74 lead with 28.6 seconds left.  Jackson drove the lane and scored with 16.9 left to cut the lead to one point.  Witthus converted two more free throws with 12.9 left.  Trevor Hudgins got a steal off an inbounds pass with 9.2 seconds left and Ryan Welty was quickly fouled. He hit one of two free throws to put Northwest up 80-76.  Jackson then nailed an NBA range three-pointer with 3.2 seconds left to pull the Hornets within 80-79.  Ryan Hawkins was fouled with 2.7 left and hit two free throws to push the lead to 82-79 and Emporia State could not get a shot off as their chance at their second upset of a #1 team in the tournament ended.
 
Jackson scored a career high 38 points and was joined in double figures by Aaron McGee with ten points.  The Hornets outscored the Bearcats 63-48 from the field but could not overcome a season's best 32 of 39 effort from the free throw line by Northwest Missouri.
 
The Hornets end the season 14-16, an improvement of five wins over last season and doubled their conference wins.  The 14 wins under Coach Craig Doty are tied for the second most by a first year Emporia State coach.