February 7, 2024-Emporia State held #12 Northwest Missouri without a field goal for the final nine minutes of the game but could not complete the comeback in a 64-61 loss to the Bearcats.
The Hornets opened the game with an alley oop dunk from
Alijah Comithier to
Darius Yohe just 13 seconds into the game. Emporia State went up 13-6 at the 13:25 mark on a lay up by
Owen Long. NWMSU then went on an 8-0 run to take a 14-13 lead with 11:54 remaining in the half. There were three ties and two lead changes over the next four and a half minutes. Comithier hit a three-pointer with 5:14 left to get Emporia State within 26-24. The Bearcats then ended the half on a 12-2 run to take a 36-26 lead to the locker room.
Wes Dreamer hit a three-pointer to start the second half for the Bearcats to give them a 13 point lead. The Hornets used an 8-3 run capped by a Comithier dunk at the 16:04 mark following a shot clock violation by the Bearcats to close within 42-34. Dreamer answered with a three-pointer with 15:28 left to put the margin back to double digits and it would stay between nine and 13 points over the next five minutes.
Dreamer hit a layup with 8:58 left to give Northwest a 57-45 lead. It would be the last field goal of the game for the Bearcats. Byron Alexander hit two free throws with 8:17 left as Northwest took their biggest lead of the night at 59-45.Â
The Hornets scored the next seven points on a three-pointer from Comithier, a dunk by Yohe and an
Atavian Butler layup to make it 59-52 with 5:59 left. Dreamer hit two free throws with 5:23 left to break the run but Comithier answered with a three-pointer that gave him 2,001 total points in his career and made it a two possession game with 4:58 remaining. After two more Dreamer free throws at the 4:30 mark, Yohe flushed his third dunk to start a 6-0 Hornet run. Emporia State forced two shot clock violations around a
Kaden Evans layup with 3:29 remaining and Butler scored inside with 1:38 left to pull the Hornets within 63-61 with 1:38 left.
Bennett Stirtz hit one of two free throws with 1:13 left to put the Bearcats up 64-61. Northwest got the ball back after a missed three-pointer with 49.1 seconds left. Yohe then blocked a Dreamer shot out of bounds with 20.9 seconds left and then blocked another one with 19.1 left to force another shot clock violation. The Hornets got the ball back and called timeout in the front court with 14.9 seconds left. They were able to get Comithier a clean look and his three-point attempt almost banked in before Alexander was able to grab the defensive rebound and dribble out the final two seconds.
Emporia State made 24 of 50 shots from the field, including a 15 of 25 effort in the second half, while holding Northwest to 18 of 38 from the field for the game. The Hornets forced 21 Bearcat turnovers, including four shot clock violations, which led to a 23-14 advantage in points off turnovers. Emporia State also had a 36-20 advantage in points in the paint, but were outscored 20-9 from the free throw line and were outrebounded 34-12.Â
Alijah Comithier had a game high 26 points and was joined in double figures by
Atavian Butler with 145 points.
Darius Yohe added six points, five rebounds and four blocks while
Drew Tennial scored six points with three steals in his first action since January 11.
The Hornets will be back in action on Saturday when they play host to Missouri Western. Tip-off from White Auditorium is set for 3:30 p.m.
NOTES:
Alijah Comithier became the fifth active NCAA Division II player with 2,000 career points. He scored 1,111 in 71 games at UC-Colorado Springs and has 890 points in 56 games at Emporia State.
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