January 15, 2025 – Just eleven days removed from the previous matchup with Washburn, which saw the Hornets fall to the Ichabods by 28, the Hornets dropped Wednesday's matchup 83-72. Emporia State cut the deficit to ten in the final minutes, despite trailing by 21 with less than seven minutes to play.
The game got off to a quick start offensively as both teams made four field goals in the opening three minutes as Emporia State held a 10-9 lead at the 17:23 mark. Washburn responded with seven of the next points, taking a 16-11 lead into the first media timeout. The scoring slowed up over the next five minutes, as the Hornets closed the deficit to 21-18 at the second media timeout with 9:42 remaining before halftime.
Washburn's three-point lead would prove to be the smallest for the Ichabods for the remainder of the game. Over the final nine minutes of the first half, the deficit increased to as much as 18 before a three from Malik Edwards in the final minutes made the score 43-28, which was taken into the halftime break.
In the first half, Emporia State shot 10-28 from the floor while the Ichabods shot 16-34 and the Hornets trailed on the glass 22-14.
After the halftime break, both teams managed just five field goals in the first nine minutes of the half, as Washburn led Emporia State 57-41 with 11:08 remaining. Over the next five minutes, the Ichabod lead grew to 71-50 with 6:36 remaining. The Hornets worked to close the gap, as Emporia State put together a 12-2 run to close the gap to 73-62 with 4:17 left at the final media timeout.
The Hornets would cut the deficit to ten points on three occasions in the final four minutes with the first on a driving layup from
Justin Mack with 2:48 left to make the score 75-65. Despite the late push from Emporia State, the lead never dipped into the single digits, as the Hornets fell 83-72 against the top-ranked Ichabods.
Arhman Lewis led the Hornets with 19 points on 7-9 shooting and 3-4 from three. Malik Edwards and
Justin Mack joined Lewis in double figures with 13 points each, which set a new career-high for Mack.
As a team, the Hornets shot 44.4%, including 53.8% in the second half. Emporia State committed 19 turnovers and were outrebounded by the Ichabods 38-30.
Emporia State will return to action on Saturday, January 18 as they travel to Warrensburg, Mo. for a matchup with Central Missouri. Tip-off between the Hornets and Mules is scheduled for 3:00 p.m.
