Senior guard Lamar Wilbern attacks the basket Friday night in the first round of the MIAA Tournament in Kansas City. The Hornets upset the #2 seed Tigers walking away with a 65-61 victory.

It took the entire 40 minutes to decide the fate of the Emporia State men’s basketball team as they wound up upsetting the Tigers of Ft. Hays State Friday night, 65-61.

Emporia State Coach David Moe thought that the team responded well to the third outing against the Tigers.

“Obviously from the last time we played them we had to make some changes,” Moe said. “I thought all week we did a great job adjusting to things we had to do.”

A three-pointer from Ft. Hays to start the game put the Hornets behind 0-3 early. After an easy basket on the low block from the Tigers, senior guard Matt Boswell scored two points for ESU on a close jump shot. Off of two consecutive steals, senior guard Lamar Wilbern struck twice for the Hornets, giving the team a 6-5 edge with just under 17 minutes to play in the opening half.

After the teams traded points back and forth for several minutes, a media timeout stopped the action with Emporia State leading Ft. Hays 15-14 with 13:54 remaining. The Hornets went up by four at 20-16 on when Wilbern struck gold on a 15 foot jump shot.

With 8:21 left to play in the half, senior guard Jeremiah Box hit a three-pointer to give the Hornets a 23-16 advantage – FHSU Coach Mark Johnson called timeout to regroup his team’s efforts.

Following a media timeout, the Tigers made a small run, getting to within three points of the Hornets lead at 23-20. However, ESU utilized quickness and turnovers on the defensive side of the ball to extend the lead back to seven, 27-20, which forced Johnson to call another timeout.

Senior guard Tim Niles fights against the FHSU defense Friday night in Kansas City.

The final timeout on the floor of the half saw the Hornets commanding a 31-23 lead over the Tigers with 3:53 remaining in the half. Emporia State went into the locker room at halftime ahead of Ft. Hays, 33-27.

Junior forward Adam Holthaus scored the first four points of the second half for the Hornets, one set coming on a basket on the low block and the other on the free throw line.

The Hornets extended their lead to 12 points with just under 15 minutes to play thanks to a shot in the paint by junior guard Matt Boswell.

A timeout on the floor stopped the game with 14:02 remaining and the Hornets ahead of the Tigers 41-31.

In an effort to make a comeback, FHSU went on a 10-3 run, which led to a timeout by Moe with 9:03 left in the contest. The Hornets, however, would do their best to fend off the run, going on a small run of their own to set the score at 49-41 before a media timeout stopped the action with 7:20 left to play. Ft. Hays State then went on a 6-0 run to get back within two of the Hornets lead, 49-47, before Moe called timeout with 5:01 to play.

With 3:35 remaining in the contest, the final media timeout of the game gave the action a break with the Hornets still leading the Tigers, 53-49.

Junior guard Matt Boswell takes a 3 point shot agains FHSU Friday night in Kansas City.

A big three-pointer from FHSU cut the Hornets lead to three at 59-56 with 30.2 seconds left in the game.

However, Emporia State would hit key free throws down the stretch and upset the #2 seed Tigers 65-61.

Boswell said that the team had used the close losses from earlier on in the season as a learning tool to help them in this game.

“I think from the beginning of the year, we’ve learned a lot from our losses, especially down the stretch,” Boswell said. “We’ve been in a lot of close games…we might have folded earlier in the year…we fought together and kept playing defense and made free throws down the stretch.”

According to Wilbern, the experience gained from the close losses was invaluable.

“It’s huge,” Wilbern said. “Because a lot of them (close games), we lost. The biggest thing now is that it’s in the tournament. We got it together at the right moment.”

The Hornets are set to play Nebraska-Omaha next. The semifinal game is scheduled for 8:15 p.m. on March 6 at the Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Mo.

Send article as PDF to