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.

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Senior guard Sophia Lenard shoots over a FHSU defender Thursday night during the first round of the MIAA Tournament. The Hornets beat the Tigers 72-66.

After a rough start, the Emporia State women’s basketball team was able to pull together and defeat Ft. Hays State 72-66 in the first round of MIAA Tournament action.

A trio of three-pointers late in the game from senior guard Jamie Augustyn led the Hornets to come back from a large deficit.

“I just did what I do,” Augustyn said. “My teammates did a really good job of finding me open, so I just shot it.”

Freshman guard Jocelyn Cummings was the first to score for the Hornets on a slashing move to the basket. With just over 17:30 to play in the first half, the Hornets found themselves down 3-7 thanks to a pivotal Ft. Hays three-pointer.

The first media timeout of the half stopped the action at the 15:56 mark with ESU trailing the Tigers 5-7. Following the timeout, the Tigers went on a 4-0 run until senior guard Sophia Lenard made a basket in the paint.

Another media timeout saw the Hornets still trailing Ft. Hays State, 9-15, with 11:20 remaining in the half.

ESU Coach Brandon Schneider was forced to call a timeout when the Tigers’ lead extended to 11 with 8:09 left in the half.

Senior guard Lacy Corker made a three-pointer following the timeout, cutting Ft. Hays State’s lead to eight, 12-20. Two straight treys from Ft. Hays’ Naomi Bancroft put the Hornets behind by 14 with just over six minutes to play in the half. The final timeout on the floor of the half saw the Tigers with a 29-17 lead over Emporia State with 3:27 remaining.

Senior guard Lacy Corker puts up a 3 point shot Thursday night in Kansas City.

A well executed offensive play by the Hornets saw Cummings take it to the rim and score, cutting the lead to 10. A pair of free throws from Lenard and a slashing basket by Boston saw the Hornets pull within six of Ft. Hays’ lead, 23-29, with just over a minute to play in the opening period.

A three-pointer from the Tigers gave them a nine point cushion going into halftime with a 32-23 lead over ESU.

Schneider said that Hays’ effort in the first half proved to be formidable.

“In the first half, Hays was really good,” Schneider said. “I really felt like the difference between the two halves (was) Hays’ seniors played like they wanted to play another game. They out-competed our seniors.”

Boston led the Hornets in their comeback effort with seven early second half points. A timeout on the floor stopped the action at the 11:33 mark with the Hornets trailing the Tigers 38-47.

Augustyn sparked the comeback by the Hornets, who cut the Tigers lead to four at 43-47 with just under 10 minutes to play. Junior forward Alli Volkens followed up Augustyn’s basket with one of her own on the low block, setting the score to 47-45 in favor of FHSU. Another three-pointer from Augustyn that led the Hornets to within one of the Tigers’ lead, 48-49, led to a timeout by Ft. Hays Coach Tony Hobson.

Senior guard Cassondra Boston attacks the FHSU defense Thursday night in the first round of the MIAA Tournament.

Following the timeout, ESU finally took the lead thanks to yet another Augustyn three-pointer. The Hornets went on a 7-2 run after the timeout by Ft. Hays, bringing the score to 55-51 in favor of Emporia State with just over five minutes remaining in the contest.

Boston said that it was at this point the seniors realized it was time to step up.

“We knew we had to pick it up right then and there,” Boston said. “I just kept stressing that every possession mattered. We couldn’t take any possessions off.”

Ft. Hays went on a small run of their own to tie the game up at 55 with 4:08 left to play.

The final media timeout saw ESU leading FHSU 58-57 at the 3:37 mark.

A myriad of lead changes occurred in the final few minutes of the game until a hard earned basket on the low block by Volkens stretched the Hornets’ lead to three, 66-63, with 1:04 remaining in the half.

Following a FHSU timeout, a trip to the charity stripe for Boston led to two more points, extending their lead to five, 68-63 with under a minute to play.

Boston gave the Hornets four more free throw points as the team left the court with a victory over the Tigers, 72-66.

Boston led all scorers with 23 on 6 of 18 shooting. Augustyn chipped in 11 points, while Volkens and senior guard Lacy Corker added 10 points each.

The Hornets will now face Central Missouri in the semifinals of the MIAA Tournament.  Tip-off is scheduled for 2:15 on March 6 at the Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Mo.

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