EMPORIA STATE FALLS TO MISSOURI SOUTHERN IN A GAME OF RUNS

January 16, 2021-In a game of runs, Missouri Southern had the final one to take a 75-64 victory over Emporia State on Saturday afternoon in White Auditorium.
 
The game started out fairly even as Emporia State led 16-15 with 13:02 left in first half.  The Hornets then went on a 7-0 run to take a 23-15 lead with 10:50 left on a Jumah'Ri Turner steal and coast to coast drive.  Southern cut the lead to two with 8:41 left but two minutes later Emporia State was back up 31-24 on a Mayuom Buom fast break layup with 6:35 left. 
 
An 8-0 run gave the Lions a 32-31 lead before Turner took the ball the length of the court again, this time following a block by Buom on the defensive end to give the Hornets a 33-32 lead and force Southern into a timeout.  The Lions came out of the timeout with a 9-2 run and took their biggest lead of the half at 41-35 on Cam Martin's three-pointer with 1:37 left.  It would be the last score for either team as Southern took the six point lead to the locker rooms.
 
The Lions scored the first points of the second half to go up by eight and had a 47-39 lead with 17:28 left.  Buom got a dunk off an assist from Turner to start a 10-0 run by the Hornets.  Buom gave Emporia State their first lead of the second half at 49-47 on a put back with 13:17 remaining. After a Martin layup Gage McGuire scored on an alley-oop layup with and Buom scored inside to give the Hornets a 53-49 lead with 11:49 left to cap would end up being a 14-2 run.
 
Southern answered with a 14-2 run of their own and Lawson Jenkins three pointer with 6:12 left gave the Lions a 63-55 lead. Marquis McCray and Austin Downing both scored in the paint for the Hornets to cut the lead to 63-59 with 5:08 left.  Christian Bundy scored the next five points to push the Lion lead back to nine points with 3:27 left.  Turner hit a three pointer with 2:48 left to cut the lead back down to six, but that would be the last points for Emporia State until Duncan Fort scored on a put back with 22 seconds left as the Lions held on for the 75-64 win.
 
Jumah'Ri Turner scored 20 points to lead all scorers while Austin Downing added 11 and Mayuom Buom scored ten points. The Hornets outrebounded the Lions 35-28 and hit one more total field goal, but were outscored by 15 points from beyond the three point line and eight points from the free throw line as Emporia State shot just four of 24 (16.7%) from beyond the arc and four of nine (44.4%) from the charity stripe.
 
The next scheduled action for Emporia State is set for Saturday, January 23 when they play host to #8 Washburn.  Tip-off for the Turnpike Tussle is set for 3:30 p.m. in White Auditorium.