Bolivar, Mo. — Donta Watson looked to the ceiling, almost as if rewinding a season’s worth of memories through his head.
The senior guard couldn’t say exactly when it had happened, but he could tell that this Emporia State team was not the same as it had been earlier this season.
“We’ve just got to get back to being the Hornets,” Watson said. “Somewhere along the line, we lost our way.”
It never seemed more evident than on Saturday, as ESU trailed by as many as 31 points in a 108-89 loss to Southwest Baptist.
After starting the season 16-0 — becoming the toast of the town and also the surprise of the MIAA — the Hornets have lost four of their last six games and are in danger of missing the NCAA Tournament altogether.
“It’s just hard to see it go down like this,” ESU guard Andrew Davison said. “I’m confident we can pull it together.”
In a game Watson labeled as a “must-win,” the Hornets never challenged the Bearcats.
ESU trailed 54-32 at halftime and 79-48 with 13:43 left in the game.
The Hornets won the first matchup between the two teams, 93-84, leading by as many as 20 points in the second half.
“It’s the second game in a row we played a team where we went out there with the mentality we were better than them because we beat them the first time,” Watson said. “That’s not the mentality our team needs to have to be successful.
“The games aren’t played in the past. The games are played on the court.”
The 31-point deficit was by far ESU’s biggest of the season, as the previous high was 21 against Northwest Missouri State on Jan. 21.
“I don’t care if we have a team of NBA All-Stars,” Watson said. “That’s hard to dig out of.”
ESU still almost did.
Over the next 5:46, the Hornets went on a 21-5 run, cutting the lead to 84-69 and trimming the 31-point deficit in half with 7:57 still remaining.
ESU couldn’t keep up the frantic pace, getting the lead down to 90-78 with 4:33 left before Andy Wills scored nine consecutive points in an 11-2 SBU run.
“We want it so bad,” Davison said. “We just need to find the right way to play basketball again.”
The statistics reflected some of the problems for ESU.
Though the Hornets entered the game leading the conference in assists, they mustered just six against Baptist on 30 made shots.
“We stopped thinking that we needed other guys to have success,” ESU coach David Moe said.
Watson said he didn’t consider players’ mindsets to be selfish, but he did believe that many were trying to do too much by themselves instead of relying on their teammates.
“A guy might have the mentality that, ‘I’ve got to go out there and make at least five plays,’ when really we need to have five guys making one play,” Watson said. “Donta Watson doesn’t have to make a shot. Wes Book doesn’t have to make a shot. The Hornets need to make a shot.
“We just need to get back to that collective mentality where it’s just the Hornets.”
ESU might also have lost a bit of its edge after garnering some national attention and respect in the conference.
After being picked to finish ninth in the MIAA by the coaches — which wouldn’t even have placed them in the conference tournament — the Hornets used that motivation to help them during their undefeated streak and 7-0 start through the league.
They moved to as high as No. 7 in the national rankings before going 5-6 the rest of the way.
“Guys have started to get a little bit too much strut,” Watson said. “We need to get back to that mentality where we’re not anybody.”
Watson led ESU with 25 points, while Wes Book added 23. DeAndre Townsend contributed 16 points.
SBU had seven players in double figures, led by Wills and Matthew Rogers, who had 17 points each.
The Bearcats (16-11, 10-8 MIAA) shot an astounding 62 percent from the floor.
The Hornets (21-6, 12-6) will face the sixth-seeded Truman Bulldogs in the first round of the MIAA Tournament at 8:15 Thursday in Kansas City, Mo.
ESU will need at least one win to improve its chances at securing an NCAA Tournament berth.
“Our season could easily end Thursday if we don’t come ready to play,” Watson said.
ESU lost its last matchup with Truman, 88-78, last Wednesday in White Auditorium.
“It doesn’t matter who we play. It’s never about who we play,” Moe said. “It’s about who we are.”
The Hornets have one more chance to re-discover that on Thursday.
SW BAPTIST men 108, EMPORIA STATE 89
No. 23 Emporia State 32 57 — 89
Southwest Baptist 54 54 — 108
EMPORIA STATE (21-6, 12-6 MIAA)
Watson 9-24 5-6 25; Book 8-12 5-9 23; Townsend 6-13 4-4 16; Davison 2-5 4-7 9; Desir 1-5 2-2 4; Elliott 2-3 0-0 4; Fithian 2-6 0-0 4; Tegtmeier 0-2 3-4 3; Holthaus 0-0 1-3 1. Totals 30-70 24-35 89.
SOUTHWEST BAPTIST (16-11, 10-8 MIAA)
Wills 6-9 4-4 17; Rogers 6-7 5-6 17; Young 6-6 2-3 16; Jemison 6-12 0-1 15; Folkerts 4-6 2-2 14; Lopez 5-8 2-7 12; Grabowski 6-11 0-0 12; Frantz 1-4 1-2 3; Neuhalfen 1-2 0-0 2; Blair 0-1 0-0 0; Bennett 0-0 0-0 0; Martin 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 41-66 16-25 108.
3-point goals — Emporia State 5-20 (Watson 2-10; Book 2-3; Davison 1-4; Tegtmeier 0-1; Desir 0-1; Townsend 0-1); Southwest Baptist 10-23 (Folkerts 4-6; Jemison 3-7; Young 2-2; Wills 1-4; Frantz 0-1; Blair 0-1; Grabowski 0-2). Fouled out — Emporia State: Book. Southwest Baptist: Blair. Rebounds — Emporia State 36 (Desir 7; Book 7); Southwest Baptist 41 (Young 8). Assists — Emporia State 6 (Watson 3), Southwest Baptist 28 (Young 10). Total fouls — Emporia State 22, Southwest Baptist 25. Att — 1487.
Comments
We allow registered users to post comments on this Web site. To learn more about our posting policies please read our User Poster Agreement Policy.
Use the comment form below to begin a discussion about this content.