Emporia State manager Ryan Thomas, known as R.T., might have been the MVP (or MVM) in Wednesday night’s 107-51 victory over Central Christian at White Auditorium.
Every day at practice Thomas keeps track of missed boxouts. A missed boxout earns a demerit, which earns a windsprint. On Saturday against Missouri Western, Emporia State was outrebounded 40-34, and Thomas wasn’t happy.
“I start them out with three before practice even starts now,” he said.
Coach’s orders?
“No. That’s something I did because I was pissed.”
Thomas’ method worked against Central Christian. The Hornets outrebounded the Tigers 45-18 and did not allow an offensive rebound in the first half.
“Sometimes you want to kill R.T.,” Jeremiah Box said. “But it’s only going to help us.”
While Thomas deserves some credit for the rebounding, the Hornets earned the lopsided victory with their shooting.
Central Christian started the game in a zone defense, and Emporia State took advantage of open looks on the perimeter. Nine of their first 15 field goals were 3-pointers and the Hornets made 10-of-16 3-pointers in the first half — most of which were uncontested.
“It kind of lightens up everybody’s eyes to see a zone,” Tim Niles said. “Different schools run zones differently and we kind of found a niche on what their weakness is in the zone and it was a positive for us.”
Emporia State finished 18-for-32 from beyond the arc and had six players make at least one 3-pointer, and four finished with three or more. Robert Moores made 5-of-7, Box made 4-of-6, Alex Pyle made 4-of-6 and Niles was a perfect 3-for-3.
“Coach wants me to shoot a lot more threes,” Niles said. “I’ve been kind of hesitant so I just let it ride.”
The Hornets had sort of a let-it-ride attitude throughout against Central Christian, an NAIA team that was overmatched by the Hornets.
The focus in practice leading up to the game was not on Central Christian, but rather, the Hornets focused on themselves, such as their rebounding deficiencies.
Coach David Moe wanted to see his players play a solid 40 minutes after they played poorly in the first half against Missouri Western, letting a 29-point lead shrink to eight.
The Hornets delivered by never letting up against Central Christian. The Tigers’ biggest run was 4-0, and that only happened once in the first half.
“It was good that we played 40 minutes competitively,” Moe said.
When Moe pulled all of his starters with about 10 minutes left in the game, Emporia State did not experience a dropoff.
“When the second group got in, they just did a great job,” Moe said. “And they’ve been doing great at practice. They’ve been phenomenal at practice and they played that way tonight. They probably played better than the other guys did.”
The ESU starters and top reserves were animated on the bench in the final minutes, waving their towels and uhhing and ahhing at some of the plays made by their teammates, including a dunk by Jordan Stout on a drive to the basket. It was the second dunk of the game for the Hornets. Box had the first, a one-handed uncontested dunk that was the first for the Hornets since Box dunked against K-State on Nov. 19.
“It (Stout’s dunk) wasn’t as good as mine, but it was nice,” Box said. “I’ll give him a clap hands for that.”
As for rebounding, when Thomas heard the numbers after the game, even he gave his team a hand.
“I feel a lot better about it,” he said.
Emporia State 107, Central Christian 51
Central Christian 23 28 — 51
Emporia State 57 50 — 107
CENTRAL CHRISTIAN (5-5)
Schneider 3-8 2-2 9, Turner 10-17 4-8 24, Luckey 0-1 0-0 0, Francois 1-4 2-2 4, Malone 4-8 0-0 4, Mattingly 0-5 0-0 0, Guillory 2-3 0-0 4, Lockwood 0-2 0-0 0, Bergstrom 0-3 0-0 0, Troyer 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 20-52 8-12 51.
EMPORIA STATE (7-1)
Ping 3-5 0-0 6, Box 8-10 0-0 20, Andrews 3-4 0-0 7, Boswell 0-1 0-0 0, Wilbern 4-12 0-0 8, Stout 2-3 0-0 5, Burdolski 0-2 0-0 0, Allen 2-3 1-2 5, Moores 6-10 0-0 17, Niles 5-6 1-1 14, Pyle 4-7 0-0 12, Moore 3-4 3-5 9, Holthaus 2-3 0-0 4. Totals 42-70 5-8 107.
3-point goals — Central Christian 3-19 (Malone 2-6, Schneider 1-6, Lockwood 0-1, Francois 0-2, Mattingly 0-4), Emporia State 18-32 (Moores 5-7, Box 4-6, Pyle 4-6, Niles 3-3, Andrews 1-1, Stout 1-2, Boswell 0-1, Burdolski 0-2). Fouled out — Central Christian: None; Emporia State: None. Rebounds — Central Christian 18 (Turner 4), Emporia State 45 (Wilbern, Moore 9). Assists — Central Christian 6 (Luckey 2), Emporia State 25 (Moores 10). Total fouls — Central Christian 10, Emporia State 9. Att. — 1,033.