By TOMMY REZAC
St. Joseph Post
Will Eames tied his career-high with 25 points, leading five Griffons in double figures as Missouri Western (13-14, 9-10 MIAA) scored an 80-75 win over Emporia State on Senior Night Saturday at the MWSU Fieldhouse.
Missouri Western, who had lost at Emporia State 76-64 on Jan. 6, built a 35-22 lead with 5:50 left in the first half and led 40-34 at the break. Emporia State (18-7, 13-6) hit back, regaining the lead, 48-47, with 14:44 left off of a Peyton Rogers-Schmidt dunk.
The lead changed hands 15 times in all, and MWSU took the lead for good with 1:42 to go. After an offensive foul on Emporia State's Tray Buchanan, Hornets head coach Craig Doty was called on an ensuing technical foul, giving Missouri Western's Caleb Bennett two free throws.
Bennett made both, putting the Griffons ahead 74-73. Missouri Western got the ball back after the free throws, and they took advantage, as Eames hit a floater with 1:24 left to give the Griffons a 76-73 advantage.
Down 78-73 with 43 seconds left, Emporia State had the ball, but turned it over after a long pass down the sideline went out of bounds.
On the ensuing inbounds play, Bennett flung the ball down the floor to a wide open JaRon Thames, whose dunk gave the Griffons an 80-73 advantage with 32 seconds to go, essentially putting the game away.
"I love that this group stays connected no matter what," Missouri Western coach Will Martin said. "And you saw that tonight in a game that we had to have. These guys stepped up and I'm glad we were able to do it on Senior Night."
Bennett, Q Mays and Justin Bubak all scored 12 points to compliment Eames' 25. Taye Fields also came off the bench, scoring 11 points to go with eight rebounds. Thames finished with eight points as well.
"It was definitely a fun game," Eames said. "It was definitely like a playoff environment out there. Emporia is a really, really good team and they have two elite guards. They're really tough. This was a big win for us to get this win at home. I'm just proud of our guys."
MWSU shot 52.9 percent from the floor (27-of-51), including 11-of-18 from three. Emporia's Jumah'Ri Turner scored a game-high 29 points to lead the Hornets. Tray Buchanan had 16, while Brenden Van Dyke had 13 points and eight boards.
Missouri Western will play its eighth game in 16 days Monday when they welcome Missouri Southern (13-12, 10-9 MIAA) to St. Joseph for a makeup game. Tip-off is set for 5:30 p.m.
MWSU women fall behind early, never recover in loss to Hornets
Emporia State made 11 threes, scored 28 third quarter points and played one of their best games of the season in an 84-67 win over Missouri Western at the MWSU Fieldhouse Saturday.
The Hornets (13-12, 8-11 MIAA) jumped out to a 9-2 lead in the first 3:25 of the game, and would never trail for the entire evening.
After getting beat by the Griffons 81-67 in Emporia this past Tuesday, the Hornets made the right adjustments on defense, turning Missouri Western over 17 times and holding them to 4-of-16 shooting from beyond the arc.
"I thought we were out toughed in every way in this game," Missouri Western coach Candi Whitaker said. "Particularly to start. I mean, every loose ball. Every defensive rebound we should have been getting. (Emporia) is a very talented team. I think this team is capable of playing like this all of the time."
Emporia State was led in scoring by Tre'Zure Jobe, who had a game-high 22 points to go with five rebounds, four assists and three steals.
Ehlaina Hartman had 19 points on 4-of-7 shooting from three. Victoria Price had 16 points to go with four steals.
Corbyn Cunningham, playing in her final home game as a Griffon on Senior Night, led the Griffons (20-6, 14-6 MIAA) with 15 points - all in the second half. Jordan Cunningham came off the bench to score 13. Connie Clarke had her seventh double-double of the season with 11 points and 12 rebounds.
The Griffons have two big road trips to round out the regular season - at No. 9 Fort Hays State (23-3, 17-3 MIAA) Wednesday and at Nebraska-Kearney (20-6, 15-5 MIAA) Friday. Both games start at 5:30 p.m.
"We have two opportunities ahead of us that are important," Whitaker said. "It's going to be up to our team. Are they going to show up? I think when we're good and we're locked in and we're being physical, I think we're as good as anyone in the league or maybe the country. And when we're not, we're not very good."
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