Kirksville, Mo. — It had all the makings of an edge-of-your-seat, hold-your-breath final possession on Monday night at Truman.
The Hornets led by two in the final 30 seconds with the shot clock winding down, and it looked as if Truman were going to have a chance to tie when Tim Niles made a desperate off-balance drive toward the basket.
With no other option, Niles jumped into the air. Midair, Niles spotted an open Robert Moores in the corner, and with 16 seconds left, Moores calmly drained a 3-pointer, setting up a drama-less final possession and a 63-58 ESU win.
“Big shot Rob,” Lamar Wilbern called his teammate after the game.
“I have a lot of confidence in my shot,” Moores said, “and if they need me to step up and hit the big shot, that’s what I’ll do.”
Moores stepped up every time the Hornets needed him at Truman. The junior guard made 5-of-7 3-pointers and scored 13 of his 19 points in the second half.
The Bulldogs started the second half on a 15-2 run to take their first lead, but Moores shot the Hornets back into the lead, scoring eight points during a 10-2 ESU run.
Emporia State absorbed every Truman run and always had an answer. Coming into the game, that was coach David Moe’s concern: How would his team respond in a close game?
The Hornets had yet to play in a close game in the MIAA, and their only close game in the nonconference was a 65-60 win at Newman on Nov. 22.
They looked as if they were going to cruise to another easy win early on against the Bulldogs. The Hornets jumped out to a 24-10 lead, making their first five 3-pointers.
“We came out intense and we hit a lot of shots,” Wilbern said. “We knew we weren’t going to continue to be perfect from the field, so we just wanted to keep playing hard and take good shots. We got a little carried away and took some bad shots, but it’s like that sometimes. We wanted to keep the effort there and keep battling.”
As Moe called it, the Hornets got 3-happy after their fast start, and they missed their final six 3-point attempts of the first half, allowing Truman to get back into the game.
“You know you’re not going to keep stepping on a team,” Moe said. “You know they’re going to fight back and get back in the game and it’s going to turn into what it turned into.”
What it turned into was a game where every possession mattered down the stretch. It provided Moe an opportunity to see how his team would respond.
Although the execution wasn’t always there, the Hornets’ shooting was. They made 4-of-5 3-pointers in the second half and went 6-for-6 from the free throw line, while Truman made only 8-of-18 free throws in the second half.
“We were probably fortunate Truman missed some free throws. We learned a little bit down the stretch,” Moe said. “We haven’t had any close games and four to five minutes to go, we were probably a little too aggressive, but we were attacking the rim, which is what you want to do. You’ve got to get to the rim and we got to the rim, we just didn’t finish.”
Moores did finish when the Hornets needed him most, knocking down the late 3-pointer. It was a shot of relief for Emporia State, but Moe almost wanted to see how his team would perform in another pressure situation.
“That’s the situation where if he misses that shot, there’s going to be times where you’re coming down with a two-point lead and you want to see if you do the right things defensively,” Moe said. “I wasn’t necessarily wanting him to miss it, but the thought occurred to me, ‘Will we cover out on the three?’”
Although Moe will have to wait another day to see his team deliver a pressure-packed defensive stand, he was more than happy to settle for his team’s first conference road win.
“It’s huge,” Moe said. “Coming here and getting a win is big, any road win is big, but especially for us right now going in with three home games. Every game we play from here on out, they’re all bigger than the next game. The next game is bigger than the last game. That’s kind of how it’s going to go the rest of the year. I’ve got confidence in my guys. We did some good things tonight, showing that we’re capable of winning some tough games.”
Monday at Pershing Arena
Emporia State 31 24 — 63
Truman 24 34 — 58
EMPORIA STATE (9-2, 3-1 MIAA)
Andrews 4-6 3-4 11, Boswell 0-0 0-0 0, Wilbern 5-13 1-2 13, Box 2-8 0-0 5, Holthaus 2-6 0-0 4, Allen 0-1 0-0 0, Moores 7-15 0-0 19, Niles 1-6 4-4 7, Ping 1-4 0-2 2, Moore 1-3 0-0 2. Totals 23-62 8-12 63.
TRUMAN (5-6, 0-4 MIAA)
Fandja 3-8 6-12 12, Freeman 5-10 2-6 12, Estridge 2-4 1-1 6, Landau 4-7 0-0 9, Henderson 2-9 2-2 7, Griffin 2-4 0-0 4, Nwelue 3-6 0-0 6, Filchev 1-3 0-0 2. Totals 22-51 11-21 58.
3-point goals — Emporia State 9-16 (Moores 5-7, Wilbern 2-3, Niles 1-1, Box 1-3, Andrews 0-2), Truman 3-10 (Estridge 1-2, Landau 1-3, Henderson 1-5). Fouled out — Emporia State: None; Truman: None. Rebounds — Emporia State 34 (Wilbern 12), Truman 40 (Freeman 9). Assists — Emporia State 9 (Moores 3), Truman 12 (Estridge 7). Total fouls — Emporia State 18, Truman 19. Att. — 337.