Men's Basketball | 2/23/2024 11:22:00 PM
Game #28
Emporia State Hornets (17-10, 10-9 MIAA)
vs. Lincoln Blue Tigers (14-11, 9-10 MIAA)
Saturday, February 24, 2024 • 3:30 p.m. • Emporia, Kan. • WL White Auditorium
Series Record: ESU leads 22-14
Last Meeting: at LU 71, ESU 63 (1/11/24)
Radio: KFFX 104.9FM
Internet Audio:
kvoe.com
Television: None
Internet Video:
themiaanetwork.com/esuhornets
Live Stats |
Ticket Info |
Complete Notes in pdf
Up Next: at Pittsburg State • Wednesday, February 28, 2024 • 7:30 p.m.
Pittsburg, Kan. • John Lance Arena
SENIOR SENDOFF
Emporia State plays host to Lincoln on Senior Day. The Hornets will recognize
Alijah Comithier,
Owen Long,
Atavian Butler,
Darius Yohe,
Drew Tennial,
Peyton Rogers-Schmidt and
Ethan Hildebrand prior to tipoff.
LAST TIME OUT
Emporia State started off sluggishly before rolling to a 75-51 victory over Central Missouri. The Hornets led 10-9 lead at the 12:22 mark then held the Mules scoreless for the next 5:40 to double up the score at 18-9 with 6:42 left in the half. ESU led 29-21 with 2:22 remaining in the half, but UCM scored the final five points to make it 29-26 at the break. Emporia State went on a 14-3 run capped by back to back threes from
Kaden Evans to take a 43-31 lead with 14:55 left. ESU pulled away going up 19 at 55-36 with 9:38 remaining.
Cael McGee scored six straight to give ESU a 64-42 lead with 6:56 left. UCM would not get closer than 20 points the rest of the game as the Hornets cruised to the 75-51 win.
Alijah Comithier had 21 points, while
Owen Long and McGee each had 13 and Evans added 12 points.
THE COACHES
Craig Doty is 95-74 in his sixth season at Emporia State. In his 12th season as a head coach at the D2, NAIA, and NJCAA level he is 257-124 with three national championships. He was 49-22 in two years 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 5-5 against Lincoln.
Jimmy Drew is 31-21 in his second year at Lincoln. He is 1-3 against Emporia State.
ABOUT THE HORNETS
Emporia State is 17-10, 10-9 in the MIAA.
Alijah Comithier is third in the MIAA in scoring at 17.6 points.
Darius Yohe leads the association in blocks while
Kaden Evans is second in the MIAA in steals and
Owen Long is second in three-point makes and percentage.
ABOUT THE BLUE TIGERS
Lincoln is 14-11, 9-10 in the MIAA. They are 4-6 on the road in the MIAA. They are second in the MIAA in made three-pointers. Elijah Farr is fourth in the league in rebounding.
SERIES HISTORY
Emporia State holds a 22-14 lead in the series after winning five of the last six meetings.
LAST TIME VS LINCOLN
In a game that featured eight ties and seven lead changes a late 11-2 scoring run led the Blue Tigers to a 71-63 win over the Hornets. Emporia State opened the game on a 6-0 scoring run on their way to a 16-9 lead, their largest advantage of the game. Lincoln took their first lead at 19-18 with 9:58 left in the half and held a 35-33 lead at halftime. The Hornets out-scored the Blue Tigers 9-2 in the first five minutes of the second half to take a 42-37 lead. Lincoln retook the lead at 48-46 with ten minutes to play. After trading baskets until the 6:30 mark, Lincoln put together an 11-2 scoring run to build a 65-56 lead with 3:41 left.
Solomon Oraegbu had 22 points for ESU.
UP NEXT
The Hornets hit the road for their final two regular season games starting at Pittsburg State. Tip-off on Wednesday, February 28 is set for 7:30 p.m. in John Lance Arena.
DOTY MAGIC
Three-time National Champion head coach
Craig Doty is in his sixth season as head coach at Emporia State. He is 257-124 in his 12th year at the NCAA D2, NAIA and NJCAA levels, including a 134-91 mark in conference play. Doty is 144-96 as a head coach at four year schools with a 95-74 record since taking over for the Hornets.
He is 84-40 in games played in February and March with a 31-9 (.775) record in the post-season. Four of those nine 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.
LAST THREE YEARS
For the first time in school history Emporia State has recorded three straight years with at least a .500 record in MIAA play. Starting in 2020-21 the Hornets have gone 51-34 in MIAA play with a 70-40 overall record.
HORNETS IN THE POST SEASON
Last year was Emporia State's third trip to the NCAA Tournament in 32 years as a member of the NCAA Division II. The Hornets first NCAA Tournament game was an 85-81 loss to Drury in Stephenville, Texas on March 13, 2004. Their next appearance was a 72-66 loss to Southeastern Oklahoma on March 10, 2007. Prior to joining the NCAA, Emporia State made ten trips to Kansas City for the NAIA National Tournament and compiled a record of 13-12 with a pair of national semifinal appearances. The finished fourth in 1947 and again in 1964.
IN THE RANKINGS
Emporia State has received votes in seven National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) National Polls this season and were in the Top 25 the first five weeks of the season. There are a two MIAA teams in the Top 25 and one more receiving votes this week. The Hornets received votes in the final NABC National Poll last season, the 11th time the received votes in the season. Earlier ESU had a string of five straight weeks being ranked, their longest streak since a ten week span during the 2006-07 season. Last year was the first since the 2007-08 season Emporia State 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.
CLOSERS
The Hornets have won 37 of their last 38 games when leading at the 5:00 minute mark of the second half. Emporia State went 21-1 last season when leading at the 5:00 mark of the second half. Part of that is due to the Hornets shooting 78.7% as a team from the free throw line in the final five minutes and overtime of games last year.
GIVE ME 20
The Hornets won 20 games in back to back seasons for the first time since 1987-90. 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. This was the fourth time the Hornets have won 20 games as a member of the NCAA and the 12th time in school history. Emporia State had not won 20 games in back to back years since reaching the 20 win mark in three straight seasons from 1987-90. 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 12 times over the last 34 seasons.
THREE (OR FOUR) TIMES 1,000
Three Hornets have scored at least 1,000 points in their NCAA Division II careers.
Alijah Comithier has scored 2,052 points in 130 total games to lead all active MIAA players.
Owen Long has scored 1,683 points in 134 total games while
Solomon Oraegbu has scored 1,367 points in 100 games.
Darius Yohe has 1,058 points in 127 games at four year institutions after scoring 956 points in 100 games at NAIA William Woods.
REVOLVING DOOR
The Hornets have lost 61 player games to injury or illness this season. Peyton Rogers Schmitt has not played since injuring his knee against Kansas State in the exhibition opener,
Drew Tennial has missed 16 games,
Atavian Butler missed six games,
Cael McGee missed six games, Solomon Oraegub has missed the last five games,
Owen Long has missed two and
Ethan Hildebrand has missed one with an illness. Not counting Rogers Schmitt, since he was lost in preseason, Emporia State has had their full lineup available for just three of the 27 games this season.
1500 AND COUNTING
The Hornets have won 1,508 games in their 119 years of playing basketball. They are ranked 16th in total wins among active NCAA Division II schools.
THERE WAS A 1-2-3-4 PUNCH
Four Hornets are averaging at least 14.0 points per game this year with
Alijah Comithier at 17.6,
Solomon Oraegbu at 16.3 points,
Owen Long at 15.3 and
Atavian Butler at 14.2 points per game as all four are in the top 12 of the MIAA in scoring. Comithier is the only one that has played in all 27 games this season.
Last year
Owen Long led Emporia State at 17.2 points per game and
Alijah Comithier averaged 14.6 points per game. A total of ten different Hornets scored in double figures at least once last season with nine having multiple games of at least ten points.
The duo of Tray Buchanan and Jumah'Ri Turner was the top scoring back court in the nation in 2021-22. 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.
HOT START
The Hornets 9-1 record after ten games matched last year's start while the nine game winning streak was the best since winning 16 straight in 2006-07. Last year the Hornets opened the season 7-0 for the first time since going 16-0 to open the 2006-07 season. It was 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.
CENTURY MARK
Emporia State's 100-73 win over Newman marked the 104th time the Hornets have cracked the century mark in their history. They have reached 100 points eight times in 169 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).
FRIENDLY CONFINES
The Hornets have won 17 of their last 20 games in White Auditorium. They are 434-201 (.683) since 1979 in White Auditorium. Emporia State has won 35 of their last 44 (.795) games since the start of the 2021-22 season and 218 of their last 314 games (.694) 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 20 of the last 22 seasons.
HORNETS RANK IN NATION IN ATTENDANCE
In 14 home games last year the Hornets averaged 1,382 fans per game to rank eighth 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.
REGIONALLY SPEAKING
The NCAA Central Region is made up of teams in the MIAA, Northern Sun and Great American Conferences. The MIAA is 19-10 against the region with a 7-9 record against the NSIC and 12-1 against the GAC. However the MIAA only has two teams in the top ten listed in the first NCAA Regional Rankings, with seven teams from the NSIC represented.
Emporia State was one of three MIAA teams in the regional field last year, tying the NSIC for the most representatives. The MIAA went 71-36 (.664) mark in non-conference competition and every team in the Association had an opponents winning percentage of over .500 on the season. The NSIC was 77-40 (.658) and the GAC went 50-37 (.575) against outside competition.
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 Blake Cripps in his first year on the call. KFFX is in their 36th 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/listen.
TURNING PRO
Emporia State's Tray Buchanan and Brenden Van Dyke both signed professional contracts following the 2021-22 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.
HOW DO YOU SAY THAT:
2
Alijah Comithier: Ah-lie-zha Com-a-thear (rhymes with fear)
7
Solomon Oraegbu: Oh-ray-boo
10
Atavian Butler: Ah-tave-ian
13
Drew Tennial: Ta-kneel
22
Darius Yohe: Yo-he
