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.
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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.Â
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.
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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.
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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.
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Alijah Comithier scored 19 points, all in the second half, while
Owen Long scored 18 and
Atavian Butler had 13 points for Emporia State.
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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.
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NOTES:
Comithier went over the 1900 point mark in his collegiate career and now has 1,902 points in 122 games.
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