Sunflower State News

Emporia State comes back from 15 point first half deficit

Emporia State defeated Missouri Southern 83-79 in overtime on Saturday afternoon.

In the early moments, Emporia State struggled as Missouri Southern opened an 8-0 lead over the Hornets in just over two minutes, forcing Emporia State to take a quick timeout. After the timeout, the Hornets scored four points, including a step back three from Owen Long.

Following the Long three, Missouri Southern put together a 14-3 scoring run to take a 22-7 lead over the Hornets, their largest of the game, with 12:22 remaining in the first half.

The Hornets responded to the Lions scoring run with a 10-0 scoring run of their own which included five points from Alijah Comithier and a basket from both Owen Long and Kaden Evans as the Missouri Southern lead was trimmed to 22-17 midway through the first half.

After trimming the deficit to five points, the Lions extended their lead back to 11 points on multiple occasions. Nahcs Wahwassuck knocked down a pair of free throws in the final minute of the half as the Hornets entered the halftime break trailing Missouri Southern 38-29.

At the half, Owen Long led the Hornets with 9 points on 3-6 from three. Alijah Comithier and Kaden Evans each scored 5 points of their own.

As a team, Emporia State committed just three turnovers and forced nine turnovers but were outrebounded by the Lions 23-14 in the first half.

In the second half, both teams traded points through the first five minutes. Emporia State was able to trim the deficit to a single possession entering the first media timeout of the second half following a fast break layup from Alijah Comithier cut the Missouri Southern lead to 49-47 with 13:06 remaining in the game.

Following the media timeout, Emporia State kept the game within one possession as the cut the Lions' lead to one point on a floater from Nahcs Wahwassuck just before the second media timeout came at 9:56 remaining.

Emporia State tied the game with 7:57 remaining when Atavian Butler scored in the paint as the Hornets tied the score 58-58. Following the Butler basket, the Hornets forced a turnover which resulted in a Kaden Evans three on an assist from Owen Long as Emporia State took their first lead of the game.

After the Evans three, the Lions scored six straight points to reclaim a three-point lead, 64-61, with 3:41 remaining in the game.

The Hornets entered the final minute of the game trailing 69-68 after Alijah Comithier knocked down a jump shot following an offensive rebound.

With 34 seconds remaining, Missouri Southern scored to make the score 71-68 before Owen Long erased the deficit with a pullup three with 22 seconds remaining.

Missouri Southern attempted a corner three in the final seconds that missed the mark as the Hornets and Lions entered overtime tied 71-71.

In the overtime frame, Missouri Southern scored the first two minutes inside the first minute before Emporia State responded with a 7-0 that lasted until 54 seconds remaining. The Hornet scoring run included an Alijah Comithier three and four free throws.

Missouri Southern made a pair of free throws with 54 seconds remaining to trim the Emporia State lead to three points but were unable to inch any closer as the Hornets closed out the game from the free throw line as they shot 9-12 from the line in the overtime period as they defeated the Lions 83-79 in overtime.

Owen Long led the Hornets with 25 points while Alijah Comithier added 23 points and had 8 rebounds. Peyton Rogers-Schmidt and Kaden Evans joined Long and Comithier in double figures with 12 and 11 points respectively. Rogers-Schmidt tallied a team-high of 9 rebounds for the Hornets.

Emporia State advances to 14-3 and 8-3 in the MIAA and will return to White Auditorium on Wednesday, January 18 against Nebraska-Kearney. The game is scheduled to tipoff at 7:30 p.m. 

Original source can be found here.