Marathon men: Emporia State hornets fall to Midwestern State in 4 overtimes, 127-124
By Jesse Newell
Friday, December 21, 2007
There have been times during David Moe’s coaching career when his team has won when it shouldn’t have.
Emporia State’s 127-124 four-overtime loss to Midwestern State turned out to be the exact opposite.
“I don’t think I can be any more proud of a team than I am of our guys,” Moe said. “We played great. I thought we deserved to win. We should have won.
“I thought the only way we were going to be allowed to win was to make a play at the end. We had our chances.”
The longer the game went, though, the more the deck became stacked against the 23rd-ranked Hornets.
ESU finished the contest with six players on the bench because of foulouts. That included six of ESU’s top seven scorers.
Even then, a DeAndre Townsend shot tied it at 124 with 33.4 seconds left in the fourth overtime before MSU hit three free throws down the stretch to seal it.
“We just fought through so much adversity and did such a great job,” Moe said. “Hey, life’s not fair. But we’re getting better. I love coaching this team. They’re great kids.
“It’s just a shame they didn’t win, because you can’t play any better than we did.”
On a night when ESU tied a school record for most points scored in a game, the Hornets came away empty-handed in a contest that seemed like it would be won on a few different occasions.
The first came in regulation, when ESU held an 87-79 lead with just 2 minutes remaining.
The Hornets gave away the advantage by making too many mistakes, committing five turnovers before the start of overtime.
Midwestern State rallied and even had a chance to win it, as the Mustangs’ Chris Davis had two free throws with his team down 91-90 and 1.1 second remaining.
After hitting the first, the guard missed the second to force overtime.
ESU started the extra period short-handed, as Caleb Tegtmeier, Marvin Lee and Matt Boswell already had fouled out.
The Hornets perhaps had their best chance to win it in the second overtime, as Townsend banked a shot off the glass with 1.9 seconds left to give ESU a 112-110 lead.
“The only thing we had to do was dodge a foul,” Moe said, “and then they get lucky.”
After a timeout, MSU inbounded the ball from the sideline with 1.3 seconds left, throwing a pass that deflected off the backboard.
The Mustangs’ Trajinsky Grigsby grabbed the carom, putting in a shot just before time expired to send it to a third overtime.
Townsend missed a last-second shot that would have broken a 117-all tie in the third overtime before getting another chance in the fourth OT.
With ESU trailing 126-124, the senior guard pulled up for a 3-pointer that would have given the Hornets the lead.
His shot missed, but not by much.
“That was right off the back iron,” Moe said. “I thought it was in. It was right in front of me. It looked like it was in.”
Jeremy Ford hit 1 of 2 free throws, and the Hornets turned it over on their final possession — their 29th of the game — to end the marathon contest.
“We’ve just got to come back and work harder,” Lee said. “There’s going to be plenty more games like this one.”
ESU lost despite having one of its best shooting nights.
The Hornets finished 40-of-72 from the floor (56 percent) and made an astounding 21 of 31 shots in the first half (68 percent).
ESU also hit more than half its attempts from the three-point line (15 of 29, 52 percent).
Townsend led ESU, scoring 33 points on 13-of-21 shooting. Perhaps most impressive was that he played 55 of the game’s 60 minutes.
Book contributed 29 points before fouling out in the second overtime. He seemed to regain the shooting touch he had before suffering a thumb injury two weeks ago, knocking down 5 of 9 3-pointers and 10 of his 17 shots overall.
Lee had solid numbers across the board, ending with 21 points, five rebounds and five assists in just 23 minutes. He fouled out with 1:46 left in regulation.
“It was very hard, knowing I could have helped out more,” Lee said. “No matter whether it was defense or rebounding, just sitting there looking was hard.”
Boswell and Tegtmeier added 10 each before fouling out themselves.
Midwestern State had just two players disqualified because of fouls.
ESU beat Midwestern State, 85-83, in the teams’ previous meeting on Nov. 24 at White Auditorium.
The Hornets (5-4) now have nearly two weeks off before facing Fort Hays State on Jan. 2.
“I think we’re getting better. We were great tonight,” Moe said. “Tonight was one of those we lost that we deserved to win.
“It’s a shame, but so is life on the road. That’s the way it goes.”
Midwestern State 127, Emporia State 124
Thursday at Wichita Falls, Texas
1 2 OT 2 3 4
No. 23 ESU 54 37 9 12 5 7 — 124
Midwestern St. 44 47 9 12 5 10 — 127
EMPORIA STATE (5-4) — DeAndre Townsend 13-21 1-2 33, Wes Book 10-17 4-4 29, Marvin Lee 6-8 7-9 21, Caleb Tegtmeier 4-6 2-3 10, Andrew Davison 3-5 3-4 10, Matt Boswell 2-5 4-4 8, Jordan Fithian 1-7 4-5 6, Spencer Allen 0-0 4-4 4, Dane Kelly 1-1 0-0 3, Doug Moore 0-0 0-0 0, Dustin Andrews 0-2 0-0 0, Alex Pyle 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 40-72 29-35 124.
MIDWESTERN STATE (5-4) — Nolan Richardson IV 10-18 4-5 29, Chris Davis 9-16 8-10 26, Trajinsky Grigsby 10-19 3-6 23, Jeremy Ford 5-13 2-3 17, Michael Godwin 2-3 7-8 11, Christopher Reay 3-10 2-3 8, Marcus Anderson 2-6 4-4 8, Jordan Coffman 1-3 0-0 2, Russell Button 0-1 2-2 2, Earl Rabb 0-3 1-2 1. Totals 42-92 33-43 127.
3-point goals — Emporia State 15-29 (Townsend 6-12, Book 5-9, Lee 2-2, Davison 1-1, Kelly 1-1, Andrews 0-2, Boswell 0-1, Tegtmeier 0-1), Midwestern State 10-25 (Richardson 5-7, Ford 5-10, Grigsby 0-3, Anderson 0-2, Coffman 0-2, Davis 0-1). Fouled out — Emporia State: Davison, Tegtmeier, Boswell, Fithian, Book, Lee; Midwestern State: Davis, Godwin. Rebounds — Emporia State 45 (Book, Fithian 8), Midwestern State 44 (Grigsby 15). Assists — Emporia State 25 (Lee 5), Midwestern State 22 (Davis 6). Total fouls — Emporia State 37, Midwestern State 29. Technical fouls — Emporia State: None, Midwestern State: None. Att — 287.