One for Mama
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Ed Desir had just scored 11 points, grabbed seven rebounds and helped No. 19 Emporia State to its biggest victory of the season.
The forward still awaited his biggest judge. His mother, Mavis, stood a few feet away.
“I hope she’s happy,” Desir said. “That’s all I’m asking for.”
The 6-foot-8 senior had nothing to worry about.
Turns out Mom, who came all the way from New York to watch her son play basketball for the first time in her life, couldn’t have been any more pleased with him in ESU’s 78-71 victory over No. 8 Central Missouri on Monday.
“I’m proud,” Mavis said. “Very proud.”
She had reason to be. Ed Desir, who hit 5 of 6 shots, was just one of the Hornets to step up in a collective effort over the Mules.
ESU had five players score in double figures and four grab at least six rebounds.
“We don’t want the mothers to come in for the first time and see a loss. We want to give them much more of a treat,” said ESU guard DeAndre Townsend, whose mother came to watch him play for the first time at ESU on Saturday. “Ed really wanted to impress his Mom, and so did we. His Mom is our Mom. We’re a family. We’re a huge family.
“We’ve got to treat our Mommas right.”
Townsend keyed ESU down the stretch, with the Hornets nursing a 68-57 lead after guard Donta Watson fouled out with 2:37 remaining.
After a Zack Wright free throw, Townsend single-handedly broke the Mules’ press, dancing between three defenders in the backcourt, spinning around another in the lane, then dishing a pass to a wide-open Jordan Fithian, who finished with an emphatic slam to push the lead back to 70-58.
“I wanted to step up and be a leader for my team,” Townsend said. “I wanted to lead by example, come out with energy, and just lead my troops. I want to be the guy they can count on down the stretch.”
UCM hit two 3-pointers to cut the lead to 70-64 with 1:49 remaining, but again, Townsend came through.
After a Scott Elliott missed shot from the elbow, Townsend skied high to get the offensive rebound. He was immediately fouled and hit the two subsequent free throws with 1:09 left.
Central sliced the deficit to 74-69 on another three, but a pair of free throws by Fithian sealed it.
Appropriately enough, Townsend was able to run out the clock for ESU. After making the first of two free throws with 9.1 seconds left, he missed the second but out-hustled the other four UCM players to the loose ball.
After the final buzzer, Townsend threw his arms up like a heavyweight fighter, then put his hands to his lips before motioning to the ESU fans.
“If they thought it was a kiss, it was a kiss. If they thought it was a hug, it was a hug,” Townsend said. “Anything for the fans.”
Unlike the teams’ first game, ESU started off strong against UCM on Monday.
With four points each coming from Wes Book and Caleb Tegtmeier, the Hornets jumped out to a 12-4 advantage before pushing that lead to 20-9.
ESU never trailed in the game.
“You’ve got to give them credit,” Central coach Kim Anderson said. “We came in here, and they took it to us.”
Interestingly, Anderson briefly followed in Washburn coach Bob Chipman’s footsteps early in the game.
After receiving a technical foul, Anderson took off his suit coat, chucking it onto a chair on the bench.
In Saturday’s game, Chipman launched his suitcoat into the sixth row before firing his tie into the stands as well.
Wes Book led ESU with 15 points, while Tegtmeier and Watson both had 14.
Townsend contributed 12 points, seven rebounds and six assists. Three of his rebounds came in the final five minutes of the game.
“I thought it was a team effort,” ESU coach David Moe said. “It’s hard to single out individuals when so many guys helped each other.”
ESU (21-4, 12-4 MIAA) moved itself to just a game back of first place, trailing both Central and Northwest Missouri State by a game with two contests remaining.
The Hornets’ only other win against a ranked opponent came on Dec. 9, when they defeated No. 15 Fort Hays State 86-71. The Tigers have struggled since then and are now just 12-13 overall.
“This win is huge,” Townsend said. “I’m not going to sit here and say we expected to do it. We thought we could do it, but at the same time we hadn’t beaten one of the next-level teams.”
ESU will face Truman on Wednesday in the final game of the season at White Auditorium. It will be Senior Night for Watson, Desir and Elliott.
EMPORIA STATE men 78,
CENTRAL MISSOURI 71
No. 8 Central Missouri 29 42 — 71
No. 19 Emporia State 38 40 — 78
CENTRAL MISSOURI (22-3, 13-3 MIAA)
Jones 6-11 5-6 22; Wright 6-15 3-4 15; Sommerset 3-11 1-2 9; Brooks 3-5 2-2 8; Stoker 1-1 6-7 8; Williams 2-9 0-0 6; Dudley 1-5 0-0 3; Wollbrinck 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 22-57 17-21 71.
EMPORIA STATE (21-4, 12-4 MIAA)
Book 6-14 2-2 15; Tegtmeier 6-11 1-2 14; Watson 4-11 4-4 14; Townsend 3-9 6-8 12; Desir 5-6 1-2 11; Fithian 3-5 2-2 8; Elliott 1-3 0-0 2; Andrews 1-2 0-0 2; Davison 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 29-64 16-20 78.
3-point goals — Central Missouri 10-28 (Jones 5-10; Williams 2-6; Sommersett 2-5; Dudley 1-5; Wright 0-2), Emporia State 4-18 (Watson 2-7; Tegtmeier 1-3; Book 1-5; Davison 0-2; Townsend 0-1). Fouled out — Central Missouri: Sommerset; Emporia State: Watson. Rebounds — Central Missouri 27 (Stoker 8); Emporia State 42 (Desir 7; Townsend 7). Assists — Central Missouri 13 (Williams 4); Emporia State 17 (Townsend 6). Total fouls — Central Missouri 22, Emporia State 21. Att — 1984.