December 11, 2022 – The Hornets came back from an eight-point halftime deficit to defeat Northeastern State 59-58 on Sunday.
Emporia State started slow as Northeastern State scored the first five points and nine of the first ten as they built a 9-1 advantage through the first three minutes. Following the early run by the Riverhawks, the Hornets settled in as they scored nine consecutive points to take their first lead of the game.
The 9-0 Emporia State run was driven by five points from
Owen Long and four points from
Mayuom Buom.
The game remained tight as the Hornets held a 19-17 with 3:27 remaining before Northeastern State put together a scoring run entering the halftime break. The Riverhawks outscored Emporia State 10-0 over the final three minutes as they led 27-19 after the first half.
At halftime the Hornets were led by
Owen Long with 12 points while
Mayuom Buom added 4 of his own. As a team, Emporia State shot just 7-31 from the field and 1-10 from three as the Riverhawks shot 10-24.
Following the halftime break, Emporia State came out of the locker room with a 8-2 run before the first media timeout. The Hornets continued their momentum on the other side of the timeout as they scored six of the next seven points to take a 33-30 lead over the Riverhawks.
The 14-3 run to begin the second half included scoring from five different Hornets with a three from both
Sam Baker and
Kaden Evans.
Northeastern State regained the lead 34-33 after consecutive baskets before an
Owen Long layup returned the lead to Emporia State they would not hand over for the remainder of the game.
The Hornets built their largest lead of the game as they responded to the 34-33 Riverhawk advantage with a 14-4 scoring run that was capped off by an
Alijah Comithier layup with 7:24 remaining to give Emporia State a 47-38 lead.
After the Emporia State scoring run, the Riverhawks clawed back to tie the game 52-52 with 2:46 remaining. The Hornets moved back in front following a layup and a free throw from
Sam Baker. Both teams went scoreless for over two minutes before Emporia State forced a Riverhawk miss before
Owen Long was sent to the free throw line with 17 seconds remaining.
Following a pair of free throws, Northeastern State made a three with eight seconds remaining to trim the Hornet lead to 57-55.
Long would make another two free throws to give Emporia State a 59-55 lead before a last-second three fell for the Riverhawks as the Hornets won 59-58 over Northeastern State.
Owen Long paced Emporia State with 26 points, including 8-10 from the free throw line.
Alijah Comithier led the six remaining Hornets on the scoresheet with 8 points. Emporia State outrebounded Northeastern State 42-30 as they were led by
Peyton Rogers-Schmidt with 11 and
Kaden Evans with 10.
The Hornets shot just 21-50 (35.6%) from the field but limited the Riverhawks to just one second chance point while outscoring Northeastern State 24-18 in the paint.
Emporia State is now 8-1 overall and 2-1 in the MIAA. The Hornets will return home on Saturday, December 17 against Northwest Missouri. The game is scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m.
