Emporia State travels to #4 Northwest Missouri for key MIAA and Regional clash

Men's Basketball | 2/1/2023 10:56:00 PM

Game #22
Emporia State Hornets (17-4, 11-4 MIAA)
at #4 Northwest Missouri Bearcats (19-2, 12-2 MIAA)
Thursday, February 2, 2023 • 7:30 p.m. • Maryville, Mo. • Bearcat Arena
Series Record: NWMSU leads 47-27 Last Meeting: at #22 ESU 74, #1 NWMSU 65 (Dec. 17, 2022)   
Radio: KFFX 104.9FM  Internet Audio: kvoe.com
Television: None Internet Video: The MIAA Network
Live Stats • Ticket Info • Complete Notes in pdf
Up Next: at Missouri Western • Saturday, February 4, 2023 • 3:30 p.m.
St. Joseph, Mo. • MWSU Fieldhouse

MARYVILLE REMATCH      
The Hornets travel to Maryville, Mo. to take on #4 Northwest Missouri. Emporia State will play four of the next five on the road.

LAST TIMEOUT
Emporia State overcame a nearly seven minute scoring drought in the first half on the way to a 77-63 come from behind win over Rogers State in White Auditorium.
The Hornets led 23-18 with 8:07 remaining in the half. The Hillcats took advantage of a 6:53 drought to go on a 12-0 run and led 30-23 with 1:56 left. Owen Long's three made it 30-26 and Sherwyn Devonish-Prince hit two free throws with 32 seconds left to give Rogers State a 32-26 lead at the half. Long hit four three-pointers in a span of 2:22 as the Hornets went on a 14-0 run to the lead for good. Rogers State closed to within nine at 68-59 with but Evans hit six of six free throws in the final 1:15 to ice the win.  
Owen Long finished with 33 points and was joined in double figures by Kaden Evans with 13 points while Atavian Butler scored 11 points.  Gage McGuire finished with eight points, 11 rebounds, six assists and two steals.
 
THE COACHES
Craig Doty is 72-59 in his fifth season at Emporia State. In his 11th season as a head coach at the D2, NAIA, and NJCAA level he is 234-108 with three national championships. He was 49-22 in two seasons at Graceland, and won the 2018 NAIA National Championship. Doty spent four years at Rock Valley College winning two NJCAA D-III national championships to finish with a 113-28 record. He is 3-6 against NWMSU.
Ben McCollum is 353-85 in his 14th year at Northwest Mo. He is 16-7 against ESU.

ABOUT THE HORNETS
Emporia State is 17-4, 11-4 in the MIAA and receiving votes in the NABC National Poll. They are ranked 16th in the nation in field goal percentage defense. Owen Long is leading the MIAA in scoring at 18.0 points per game and is sixth in the nation in made three-pointers.

ABOUT THE BEARCATS
Northwest Missouri is 19-2, 12-2 in the MIAA and ranked #4 in the nation. They have won 11 straight home games since Emporia State defeated them 76-75 on Feb. 23, 2022. Four players average in double figures led by Diego Bernard at 17.3 points per game. Eight players have started at least six games.
 
SERIES HISTORY
This will be the 75th meeting with the Bearcats leading 47-27 overall. Emporia State has won the last three meetings including last years 76-75 win in Bearcat Arena.

LAST TIME VS NW MISSOURI
In the first top 25 battle in White Auditorium since 2007, #22 Emporia State knocked off #1 Northwest Missouri 74-65. The Bearcats led 13-6 with 15:57 left in the half. The Hornets used a 10-0 run to take a 31-27 lead with 45 seconds left in the half. NWMSU scored the final five points to be tied 31-31 at the half. ESU used a 9-0 run to go up 49-42 with 9:06 left and would hit eight straight free throws in the final 47 seconds to ice the win. Owen Long had 29 points and was joined in double figures by Alijah Comithier with 19 points.

UP NEXT
The Hornets travel to Mo. Western on February 4. Tip-off in St. Joseph, Mo. is at 3:30 p.m.

DOTY MAGIC
Three-time National Champion head coach Craig Doty is in his fifth season as head coach at Emporia State. He is 234-109 in his 11th year at the NCAA D2, NAIA and NJCAA levels, including an 120-79 mark in conference play. Doty is 121-81 as a head coach at four year schools with a 72-59 record since taking over for the Hornets.
He is 74-33 (.692) in games played in February and March with a 29-7 (.806) 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.

IN THE RANKINGS
The Hornets is receiving votes in the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) National Poll this week. Emporia State is one of three MIAA schools receiving votes this week. Earlier this year ESU had a string of five straight weeks being ranked, their longest streak since a ten week span during the 2006-07 season. This year is the first since the 2007-08 season Emporia State has cracked the Top 25. The Hornets spent 22 weeks in the NABC Top 25 from 2003-08, getting as high as seventh in the nation on three different occasions.  In two computerized ratings systems the Hornets are currently ranked #13 in the Massey Ratings and #11 in the Wilson ratings system.

MORE BALANCE, STILL A 1-2 PUNCH
The duo of Tray Buchanan and Jumah'Ri Turner was the top scoring back court in the nation last year. Buchanan led the nation in scoring at 25.6 points per game while Turner averaged 19.8 to rank third in the MIAA. Their combined 45.4 points per game was the top average in NCAA Division II for a pair of guards.  This year Owen Long is leading ESU at 18.0 points per game and Alijah Comithier is averaging 13.7 points with three other players over 7.0 points per game.  A total of ten different Hornets have scored in double figures at least once this year.

GETTING STARTED
The Hornets opened the season 7-0 for the first time since going 16-0 to open the 2006-07 season.  It is the tenth time in 119 seasons of Emporia State basketball that the Hornets have opened the year 7-0 and the first time at least six of the wins have come against D2 teams.

GIVE ME 20
The Hornets 16-4 start is their best record after 20 games since opening the 2006-07 season 18-2. Emporia State won 20 games for the first time since the 2007 season when they finished the year 21-8 and advanced to the NCAA Tournament. Last year was the third time the Hornets have won 20 games as a member of the NCAA and the 11th time in school history.  ESU won at least 20 games in five out of six seasons from 1985-90. Emporia State has won at least ten games in conference play 11 times over the last 33 seasons.

CENTURY MARK
Emporia State's 110-66 win over Saint Mary marked the 103rd time the Hornets have cracked the century mark in their history.  They have reached 100 points seven times in 131 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 David Moe (288 games in 10 seasons), five times under Shaun Vandiver (199 games in seven seasons), three times under Gus Fish (602 games in 25 seasons) and once under Marc Comstock (82 games in three seasons).

REGIONALLY SPEAKING
The NCAA Central Region is made up of teams in the MIAA, Northern Sun and Great American Conferences. The MIAA is 12-15 against the region with an 8-10 record against the NSIC and a 4-5 record against the GAC. Last year the MIAA was 19-18 against the rest of the region with a 9-6 record against the GAC and a 10-12 record against  the NSIC. According to the latest NCAA stats, the MIAA has the best record against outside competition in the nation with a 60-24 (.714) mark against all outside competition. In addition the MIAA is the only conference in the nation where every team's opponents winning percentage was at least .500 on the season at the break. The NSIC is 62-26 (.705) and the GAC is 40-29 (.580) against outside competition.

FRIENDLY CONFINES
The Hornets are 420-197 (.681) since 1979 in White Auditorium. Emporia State has won 204 of their last 296 games (.689) in White Auditorium dating back to the 2002-03 season. In the last 35 years, they have twice had home court winning streaks of at least 20 games. The first was 23 games from 1985-87 followed by a school record 25 game streak from February 12, 2003-January 1, 2005.  They have posted home winning seasons in 18 of the last 20 seasons.

HORNETS RANK IN NATION IN ATTENDANCE
In 11 home games this year the Hornets are averaging 1,240 fans per game to rank ninth in the nation. Emporia State men's basketball fans helped the Hornets rank in the top ten in attendance among the over 300 NCAA Division II basketball playing schools last season. The #7 national ranking continued a string of 19 straight years, not counting COVID, ranking in the top 25 in attendance for Emporia State. The Hornets drew 19,627 total fans for an average of 1,402 fans to their 14 home games at Slaymaker Court in White Auditorium during the 2021-22 season to rank seventh nationally.   Emporia State had a season high 2,865 for their game against Washburn on February 26 on Senior Day.   Emporia State outdrew 123 NCAA Division I schools in total attendance during the 2021-22 school year including eight teams that made the NCAA Tournament. Within the Division II ranks, the Hornets outdrew 60 of the 64 teams that were selected for the NCAA Tournament, including six of the eight #1 seeds and six of the teams that made the Elite Eight.
The Hornets were among six MIAA teams in the top 15 nationally. As a conference the MIAA drew 210,078 fans to 203 games to lead all Division II conference in average attendance at 1,035 fans per game. It is the 13th straight year the MIAA has led the nation in average attendance. The MIAA's total attendance was better than eight NCAA Division I conferences. The Central Region had a total of eight teams ranked in the top 25 as two teams from the NSIC were on the list as well. All three conferences within the Central Region were ranked in the top ten nationally.

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 35th 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 Tray Buchanan and Brenden Van Dyke both signed professional contracts following last season, giving the Hornets six professional players in the last four seasons. Buchanan signed with AEL-Limassol in Limassol, Cyprus while Van Dyke signed with CD Agulia San Miguel in El Salvador
Julius Jackson became the fourth 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.

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.