Men's Basketball | 11/11/2021 9:00:00 PM

Games #1-2
Emporia State Hornets (0-0, 0-0 MIAA)
vs. Southwestern Oklahoma (0-0, 0-0 GAC)
Saturday, November 13, 2021 • 7:30 p.m. • Hays, Kan. • Gross Memorial Coliseum
Series Record: ESU leads 3-2 Last Meeting: SWOSU 82, ESU 73 OT (11/8/2019)
vs. Arkansas Tech (0-0, 0-0 GAC)
Sunday, November 14, 2021 • 5:00 p.m. • Hays, Kan. • Gross Memorial Coliseum
Series Record: Series tied 2-2 Last Meeting: at ATU 79, ESU 59 (11/9/2019)
Radio: KFFX 104.9FM  Internet Audio: kvoe.com
Television: None Internet Video: themiaanetwork.com
Live Stats • Complete Notes in pdf
Up Next: at Rockhurst • Wednesday, Nov. 17, 2021 • 7:00 p.m.
Kansas City, Mo. • Mason-Halpin Fieldhouse

BACK AT IT    
Emporia State will begin their 119th season of intercollegiate basketball with a trip to Hays, Kan. for the MIAA-GAC Challenge against Southwestern Oklahoma and Arkansas Tech.  

LAST TIME OUT
Emporia State led #3 Kansas with under 15 minutes left in the first half and were within five points midway through the half before falling 86-60 in Allen Fieldhouse. Tray Buchanan gave the Hornets an 11-10 lead before the Jayhawks went on a 9-2 run to go up 19-13 at the under 12 media. Mayuom Buom scored with 10:47 remaining to pull Emporia State within 23-18 when KU went on a 23-4 run to take control. The teams played to a 35-35 tie in the second half. Buchanan led all scorers with 19 points, Buom scored 14 points on six of ten shooting while Jumah'Ri Turner had 13 points.  

THE COACHES
Craig Doty is 35-46 in his fourth season at Emporia State. In his ninth season as a head coach at the D2, NAIA, and NJCAA level he is 197-95 with three national championships. He was 49-22 in two seasons at Graceland, and won the 2018 NAIA National Championship. Prior to Graceland, Doty spent four years as the head coach at Rock Valley College winning two national championships and appearing in three straight NJCAA Division III title games to finish with a 113-28 record. He is 0-1 against both SWOSU and Arkansas Tech.
Terry Evans is 25-49 in his fourth year at Southwestern Oklahoma and 288-173 in his 18th season as a head coach. He is 1-0 against Emporia State at SWOSU went 7-4 against the Hornets while at Central Oklahoma.
Mark Downey is 25-49 in his sixth year at Arkansas Tech and 201-140 in his 13th season as a head coach. He is 1-0 against Emporia State at ATU went 4-3 against the Hornets while at Northeastern State.

ABOUT THE HORNETS
Emporia State went 11-12 last season with an 11-11 record in MIAA play. They were second in the league in scoring defense, field goal percentage defense and defensive rebounds. Jumah'Ri Turner was fifth in the MIAA in scoring last season while Mason Thiessen was fifth and Mayuom Buom was ninth in blocked shots.

ABOUT THE BULLDOGS
Southwestern Oklahoma went 7-11, 7-10 in the GAC last season. Damion Thornton led the Bulldogs in scoring, rebounding and field goal percentage to earn Second Team All-GAC honors.
SERIES HISTORY
 Emporia State leads the all-time series 3-2 with only one meeting since the 1984-85 season.
LAST TIME VS SWOSU
Emporia State battled from 12 points down with 12 minutes left to force overtime before falling 82-73 to Southwestern Oklahoma in Russellville, Ark. Jumah'Ri Turner had 24 points to lead three Hornets in double figures.

ABOUT THE WONDERBOYS
Arkansas Tech went 7-11, 5-10 in the GAC last season. Cejay Mann collected GAC Freshman of the Year after averaging 11.3 points per game and shooting .373 from the three-point arc.
SERIES HISTORY
The series is tied 2-2 with Emporia State winning the middle two games.
LAST TIME VS ARKANSAS TECH
A 13-5 run to end the first half provided enough separation for Arkansas Tech as Emporia State fell 79-59 in Russellville, Ark. The Hornets were within a point at 22-21 with 3:39 left in the first when the Wonder Boys went on their run to end the half. Brenden Van Dyke led Emporia State with 15 points and seven rebounds.

UP NEXT
The Hornets travel to Rockhurst on Wednesday, November 17. Tip in Kansas City is at 7 p.m.

DOTY MAGIC
Three-time National Champion head coach Craig Doty is in his fourth season as head coach at Emporia State. He is 197-96 in his ninth year at the NCAA D2, NAIA and NJCAA levels, including an 94-64 mark in conference play. Doty is 83-68 as a head coach at four year schools with a 35-46 record since taking over for the Hornets.
He is 69-29 (.704) in games played in February and March with a 29-6 (.829) record in the post-season. Three of those six post season losses were to the eventual national champion.
Doty led Rock Valley College and Graceland University to national prominence earlier in his career. In just two seasons at Graceland, Doty's program had a 49-22 record and won the 2018 NAIA Division I National Championship in the school's first trip to the national tournament at Kansas City's historic Municipal Auditorium. The Yellowjackets started the 2017-18 season 10-8 and ended the year winning 19 of their final 21 games. Along the way Doty earned NAIA National Coach of the Year, HoopDirt.com NAIA National Coach of the Year, and the 2018 Don Meyer Award.
Doty's programs at Rock Valley College won NJCAA Division III National titles in 2014 and 2016 while his 2015 squad came up just short finishing National Runner-up.

CENTURY MARK
Emporia State's 104-63 win over Saint Mary in 2018-19 marked the 100th time the Hornets have cracked the century mark in their history.  They have reached 100 points five times in 80 games under Coach Doty, matching their total for the previous eight seasons combined.  
The Hornets scored at least 100 points 60 times under coach Ron Slaymaker (827 total games in 28 seasons), 26 times under coach David Moe (288 games in 10 seasons), three times under coach Gus Fish (602 games in 25 seasons) and once under coach Marc Comstock (82 games in three seasons).

TOUGH ENOUGH
The NCAA Central Region is made up of teams in the MIAA, Northern Sun and Great American Conferences. The last time the MIAA played a non-conference schedule in 2019-20, the league went 23-18 against the rest of the region with a 13-8 record against the NSIC and a 10-10 record against the GAC. The GAC had an 8-4 record against the NSIC.

FRIENDLY CONFINES
The Hornets are 403-192 (.677) since 1979 in White Auditorium. Emporia State has won 187 of their last 274 games (.682) in White Auditorium dating back to the 2002-03 season. In the last 35 years, they have twice had home court winning streaks of 23 games, the first was from 1985-87 with the most recent one coming from February 12, 2003-December 18, 2004.  They have posted home winning seasons in 17 of the last 19 seasons.

HORNETS RANK IN NATION IN ATTENDANCE
Prior to the COVID pandemic restricting attendance, the Emporia State men's basketball team had a string of 18 straight years ranking in the top 25 in attendance among the over 300 NCAA Division II basketball playing schools.
The Hornets drew 21,675 total fans for an average of 1,355 fans to their 16 home games at Slaymaker Court in White Auditorium during the 2019-20 season to rank 18th nationally.  
Emporia State outdrew 109 NCAA Division I schools in total attendance during the 2019-20 school year. Within the Division II ranks, the Hornets outdrew 55 of the 64 teams that were selected for the NCAA Tournament, including five of the eight #1 seeds.
The Hornets were among seven MIAA teams in the top 25 nationally. As a conference the MIAA drew 251,994 fans to 196 games to lead all Division II conference in average attendance at 1,286 fans per game. It is the 12th straight year the MIAA has led the nation in average attendance. The MIAA's total attendance was better than seven NCAA Division I conferences. The Central Region had a total of nine teams ranked in the top 25 as two teams from the NSIC were on the list as well.

STATE OF KANSAS CHAMPS
Emporia State went 6-1 against the other MIAA schools from the state of Kansas last season for the best winning percentage amongst the five Division II Sunflower State schools.  The Hornets have not gone undefeated against Fort Hays State, Pittsburg State and Washburn in a season since 1957-58.

ON THE COURT
The court at William L. White Auditorium was formally named Ron Slaymaker Court at half-time of the Hornets win over Washburn on Feb. 28, 2014 after the City of Emporia approved a proclamation at their Feb. 20, 2014  city commission meeting.

AND IN THE RAFTERS
Dale Cushinberry (1966-69) - Cushinberry was an All-American for Emporia State and became the first Hornet with 1,000 points and 700 rebounds.
•Wilbur Reeser (1944-48) - Reeser was named an NAIB All-American and was the Hornets leading scorer as the won a conference championship in 1948.
•Ron Slaymaker (Player 1954-60, Coach 1970-98) - As a player Slaymaker was named All-Conference and All-American during the 1957-58 season. As a coach he won an ESU leading 462 games from 1970-98.
•Jim Fraley (1956-60) - Fraley was the school's all-time leading scorer (1,509) until Brian Robinson broke his record in 1985. He was named Second-team NAIA All-American.
•Doug Glaysher (1960-64) - Glaysher was named an All-American after leading the Hornets to the NAIA National Semi-finals in 1964. He graduated as the second leading scorer in ESU history.
•Brian Robinson (1984-86) - Robinson was named a first team All-American in both his junior and senior season. He is the ESU all-time leading scorer with 2,533 career points.

LISTEN & WATCH LIVE
Video webcasts for all of Emporia State's regular season home games are available on a pay per view basis from the MIAA Network. Content is available live and is immediately archived for on-demand viewing after each event at www.themiaanetwork.com. Audio of all Emporia State games are available on KFFX 104.9FM and at www.kvoe.com with Greg Rahe on the call. KFFX is in their 32nd straight year as the radio home of Hornet Athletics, the longest active streak between a commercial station and an MIAA school. All games will also be available on the internet at www.kvoe.com.

TURNING PRO
Emporia State's Julius Jackson became the third Hornet men's basketball player to sign professionally following the 2018-19 season when he signed a professional contract with Raiders Basket Jarvenpaa in Finland. Hassan Thomas signed with Sampaense Basket of Portugal Proliga while Malik Hluchoweckyj signed with KK Bratunac of the Bosnia BiH Liga also signed pro contracts overseas while Kooper Glick played with the Washington Generals - the regular opponent of the Harlem Globetrotters. It is the first time in school history the Hornets  had four players from the same class sign to play professionally in the same year.

BRIEF BURSTS, LONG DELAYS AND RESCHEDULES
Between various COVID protocols at both Emporia State and their opponents, and the weather the Hornets had six games postponed and rescheduled last year. Due to Northeastern State being in COVID protocols at the time, the Rogers State game on February 13 was the only game in a 13 day window for the Hornets. Emporia State has had periods where they played four games in eight days, three games in three days and stretches of 14 days and 19 days without a game. Despite all of the delays, including weather delays, the entire MIAA schedule was completed.  

HOT START
Emporia State's 5-1 start in the MIAA last year was their best since going 5-1 to open the 2010-11 season. The Hornets started MIAA play with three road wins for the first time in their 30 years as a conference member. The last time Emporia State started conference play 3-0 was during the 2010-11 season against Northwest Missouri, Missouri Western and Neb.-Omaha, all in White Auditorium. The best start to MIAA play for the Hornets came in 2006-07 as they won their first seven conference games on the way to a 16-0 start to the season.