EMPORIA STATE MEN FALL 71-61 AT NEWMAN ON THURSDAY NIGHT

February 20, 2020-Emporia State was just five of 26 from the three-point line in a 71-61 loss at Newman on Thursday night.
 
Both teams struggled to score early as the first points of the game did not come until the 17:43 mark on a pair of Juwan Davenport free throws for Newman. Emporia State trailed 18-9 with 8:20 left in the half when they held the Jets scoreless for nearly five minutes.  Duncan Fort scored with 4:51 left to pull the Hornets within 20-15 and Jumah'Ri Turner scored four straight for ESU to make it 22-20 with 1:52 left.  Jacob Birnbaum hit one of two free throws with 1:30 remaining but Keyon Thomas nailed a three-pointer with 1:17 remaining to tie the game.  Turner scored with 1:03 left to give Emporia State their first lead of the game.  Marshawn Blackmon scored inside with 40 seconds left to send the teams to the locker rooms tied at 25.
 
The Jets went ahead 36-29 with 15:46 left when the Hornets went on a 13-7 run and pulled within 43-42 with 10:55 left on a basket by Justin Williams.  Williams then gave the Hornets a 46-45 lead with two free throws at the 8:37 mark.  Blackmon scored the next three points for Newman to give them a 48-46 lead with 8:00 left.  Fort hit a three-pointer with 7:38 left to put the Hornets in front 49-48 but the Jets answered with an 8-0 run to take the lead for good.  Fort scored with 2:26 left to pull Emporia State to within 61-57 but Newman would hit five of six free throws following a Juwan Davenport bucket to go up 68-59 with 52.6 seconds left.  They took their biggest lead on a Blackmon bucket with 12.1 seconds left before Williams scored for the final of 71-61.
 
Duncan Fort had career highs of 16 points and eight rebounds along with a team high three assists and two steals to lead Emporia State.  He was joined in double figures by Keyon Thomas with 13 points, Jumah'Ri Turner with 12 and Justin Williams with 11 points.
 
The Hornets will wrap up their four game road trip on Saturday at Central Oklahoma.  Tip-off from Hamilton Fieldhouse in Edmond, Okla. is set for 3:30 p.m.
 
NOTES
With his 13 points tonight Keyon Thomas now has 279 points and moved into sixth place on the Hornets all-time freshman scoring list. He passed Scott Harkess (268 pts in 1995-96) and Shawn Herrman (274 pts in 2002-03) and is 44 points away from Wes Book (323 pts in 2004-05) for fifth.