Seniors lead Emporia State to 66-57 win over Lincoln on final game in White Auditorium

February 24, 2024-Playing for the final time this season in White Auditorium, Emporia State got contributions from all six of the seniors that suited up in a gritty 66-57 win over Lincoln on Saturday afternoon.
 
Ethan Hildebrand, who is sophomore in eligibility but will graduate and move on, got his first career start in his last game at White Auditorium and scored the first two points of the game for the Hornets on a pair of free throws 90 seconds into the game.  The Blue Tigers would then go on an 8-2 run to take an 8-4 lead with 15:11 left and force Emporia State into a timeout.  The lead would eventually reach eight points at 25-17 with 4:38 left before Drew Tennial and Alijah Comithier hit back-to-back three-pointers to make it 25-23 with 2:58 remaining in the half.  Lincoln would score six of the final eight points of the half to take a 31-25 lead into the locker room.
 
DJ Richardson hit a three-pointer to open the second half and give the Blue Tigers their biggest lead of the day at 34-25. Both teams would go nearly two minutes without scoring before the Hornets started a 13-2 run with a pair of free throws from Comithier with 17:51 left.  Tennial hit three straight from beyond the three-point line around a Darius Yohe put back as Emporia State took a 38-36 lead with 15:00 remaining. With the score tied 41-41 Comithier went on a personal 6-0 run to give the Hornets the lead for good.  He started the run by grabbing a rebound and going coast to coast for a layup with 9:57 left. After Cael McGee created a held ball on the Blue Tigers possession, Comithier hit a three-pointer with 9:09 left and then hit one of two free throws at the 8:38 mark to give Emporia State a 47-41 lead.
 
The Hornets led 51-47 with 5:37 left when Comithier was fouled. He hit the first free throw and missed the second, but Lincoln coach Jimmy Drew was assessed a technical foul on the rebound. Comithier missed the first of the technical free throws before Drew as given his second technical and ejected. Comithier connected on two of the next three from the charity stripe to make it 54-47.  The Blue Tigers were called for an offensive foul on their next possession to give the ball back to Emporia State.  Tennial was fouled on the Hornets possession and his two free throws gave ESU a 56-47 lead with 4:53 left.
 
The Blue Tigers responded with a 7-0 run to get back within 56-54 with 3:12 remaining. The Hornets would convert eight of ten from the free throw line, including six straight from Owen Long in the final 1:06 to preserve the 66-57 victory.
 
Alijah Comithier scored a game high 24 points with eight rebounds while Owen Long and Drew Tennial each scored 16 points.  Darius Yohe had five blocks while Atavian Butler grabbed four rebounds as the six Hornet seniors accounted for 60 of 66 points and 23 of 28 rebounds.
 
Emporia State will play their final two regular season games on the road starting on Wednesday, February 28 at Pittsburg State.  Tip-off from John Lance Arena in Pittsburg, Kan. is set for 7:30 p.m.
 
NOTES:
Alijah Comithier now has 2,076 points in his collegiate career with 965 coming at Emporia State. He needs 35 to become the 27^th member of the 1,000-point club at Emporia State.
Owen Long now has 1,699 points in his collegiate career with 948 coming at Emporia State. He needs 52 points to join the 1,000-point club at Emporia State.
Emporia State finished the season 14-3 in White Auditorium, matching their best home wins in a season since going 14-3 in 2006-07.