Hornets move on in the MIAA tournament

Emporia state men’s basketball team will progress to the semifinals after securing their first MIAA tournament victory against Lincoln University. 

The Hornets traveled to Kansas City to play in Municipal Auditorium on Friday for the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) post-season tournament. The team, ranked 4, played against 5 seed Lincoln University.  

Tip off went to the Hornets and Kaden Evans, sophomore guard, hit a three-pointer right off the bat. The Tigers never gained a lead. Mayuom Buom, redshirt sophomore guard, followed Evans’s three after Lincoln missed with a layup. Four minutes later Lincoln scored two points making the game 7-2.  

Alijah Comithier, junior guard, ​​had a dunk before the first half was over and then another one in the second half. 

By half, Evans scored 14 points, Buom had 8, Comithier had 7 and Owen Long, junior guard, had two for the Hornets giving them an eight point lead.  

For the Lincoln Tigers, Kevin Kone, senior forward, had nine, Artese Stapleton, senior guard and DJ Richardson, junior guard, both had six and finally Franck Yetna, sophomore forward, had two. Making the half time score 31-23. 

In the second half, Peyton Rogers-Schmidt, sophomore small forward, hadtwo threes as Evans banked in a long three between the two. Long scored another three for the team shortly after.  

Rogers-Schmidt followed Comithier’s second half dunk with one of his own.  

The Tigers did not go down without a fight and caught back up. The team got within seven points with less than two minutes remaining in the game, but it wasn’t enough.  

ESU had 13 turnovers while LU had nine.  

Evans racked up the most points ending with 19. Comithier put up 17, Rogers-Schmidt had 12, Levelle Zeigler, junior guard, had nine, Buom had eight, Long had seven, NahcsWahwassuck, freshman guard, and Atavian Butler, junior guard, had three each and finally Mason Thiessen, junior center, would have one free throw. 

The Hornets are set to play again at noon March 4 at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City for the semifinals against two seed Northwest ​Missouri.