December 2, 2021-Emporia State stormed back from a ten point first half deficit to take an 81-70 victory over Neb.-Kearney to open MIAA play at White Auditorium. After being held to one free throw in the first half, the nation's leading scorer
Tray Buchanan scored 23 points in the second half to fuel the comeback.
Â
The game started out even with neither team taking more than a four point lead until the Lopers went up 26-21 with 5:34 left in the half.Â
Mayuom Buom hit a three-pointer with just under a minute left to cut the deficit to four points before the Lopers scored the final four points to go up 42-34 headed to the locker room.
Â
Austin Luger opened the second half with a layup to give the Lopers their largest lead of the night at 44-34 with 19:40 left in the game. UNK still led by eight with 17:34 remaining when Emporia State went on a 10-2 run to tie the game at 48 with 15:14 left. Buchanan scored seven of the ten points to get the Hornets back in the game.Â
Â
The Lopers David Simental was fouled on a three-point attempt with 12:28 and hit all three to give UNK a 53-50 lead. Buchanan and
Jumah'Ri Turner then combined on an 11-0 run to give the Hornets a 61-53 lead with 9:13 left.Â
Â
The Lopers would make one more run and tied the game at 63-63 with 6:19 left but ESU responded with a driving layup from
Kaden Evans and five points from Turner to retake the lead for good. Buom got a dunk from Turner with 51.9 seconds left to make it 77-70 and Buchanan hit four of four from the line for the final score of 81-70.
Â
Tray Buchanan had 24 points to lead all scorers while
Jumah'Ri Turner added 18 and
Mayuom Buom had 16 points.Â
Peyton Rogers-Schmidt had a team high seven rebounds while
Kaden Evans had four steals and three assists.
Â
The Hornets are back in action on Saturday when they play host to Fort Hays State. Tip-off is set for 3:30 p.m. in White Auditorium.
Â
NOTES
Emporia State's 6-1 record is their best start to a season since going 7-1 in the 2008-09 season.
Â
