Emporia State men fall 73-70 to Missouri Southern on Sunday

January 21,2024-Emporia State gave up 52% shooting in the second half in a 73-70 loss to Missouri Southern on Sunday afternoon in White Auditorium.
 
The Lions jumped out to a 6-0 lead that led to a Hornet timeout less than a minute into the game.  The lead reached 13 points on a Vinson Sigmon Jr three-pointer, the sixth trey of the half for the Lions, with 12:06 left in the half.  Emporia State responded with a 15-2 run to tie the game at 26.  Owen Long hit back to back three-pointers to make it 26-26 with 5:00 left in the half.  An Atavian Butler three gave the Hornets their first lead at 29-28 with 3:44 remaining. Darius Yohe had a put back dunk at the buzzer to give Emporia State a 35-32 lead at the break.
 
Missouri Southern opened the second half with a 10-2 run to retake the lead at 42-37 with 16:29 left.  Trailing 46-43 the Hornets used a 9-3 run to go up 52-49 at the 9:39 mark on a steal and layup by Alijah Comithier. The teams went back and forth over the next three minutes with Comithier getting a dunk off a Kaden Evans assist with 6:42 left to tie the game 58 with 6:42 remaining.  The Lions scored the next seven points to take a 65-58 lead with 4:46 left. The Hornets answered with a 9-2 run to tie the game with 1:16 left.  Butler started and ended the run with a three-pointer.

Martin Macenis drove the baseline and scored on a reverse lay-up with 53 seconds left to put Southern up 69-67. Comithier was fouled driving the lane with 40.6 seconds left and hit one of two free throws to get ESU within 69-68. Sigmon hit a three with 19.1 seconds left to make it a two possession game.  After a missed three from the Hornets Sigmon hit one of two free throws to make it 73-68 with 8.7 seconds left. The Hornets missed a three pointer and a put back before Long scored at the buzzer for the final score.
 
Missouri Southern hit 15 of 29 shots for 51.7% shooting in the second half and were five of 11 from beyond the arc in the second half.  The Lions shot 11 of 23 for 47.8% from beyond the three-point arc after averaging 7.3 made three-pointers on 34.4% shooting entering the game.
 
Alijah Comithier scored 19 points, all in the second half, while Owen Long scored 18 and Atavian Butler had 13 points for Emporia State.
 
Emporia State will be back in action on Thursday, January 25 at Neb.-Kearney. Tip-off from the Health & Sports Center in Kearney, Neb. Is set for 7:30 p.m.
 
NOTES:
Comithier went over the 1900 point mark in his collegiate career and now has 1,902 points in 122 games.