Still-ailing ESU men fall to Mules, 71-52
Hornets get Wes Book back, but DeAndre Townsend sits out with the flu
By Jesse Newell
Monday, February 18, 2008
Shortly after Emporia State’s 71-52 loss to Central Missouri on Saturday, Wes Book couldn’t help but bemoan his team’s bad timing — and bad luck.
“It’s just like an old car. You get something fixed, and the next day something else happens,” Book said. “We’re trying to get that full motor and well-tuned car running again.”
Saturday was supposed to be a good day for ESU — a full-strength day — as Book returned from a foot injury to play for the first time in seven games.
The Hornets still ended up being short-handed, as the MIAA’s leading scorer and assist man DeAndre Townsend came down with the flu on Friday. His temperature spiked to 103 on Saturday, and he wasn’t even able to attend the game.
ESU’s offense looked lost without him.
The Hornets’ 52-point output was the lowest in David Moe’s seven years with the program. The last time ESU only scored 52 in a game was in 2000.
“We could have used (DeAndre) out there. That’s like another 20 points we could have had,” ESU guard Marvin Lee said. “It probably would have been a closer game.”
As it was, ESU struggled to make any shots.
The Hornets hit just 6 of 29 field-goal attempts in the first half for a miserable 21 percent.
“We played well besides finishing plays,” Moe said. “It’s discouraging to go through the course of a game where you never score and don’t ever make shots.”
The Hornets weren’t much better in the second half, finishing the game 17-of-61 (28 percent). Their worst shooting performance before Saturday was a 34-percent effort against Angelo State on Dec. 17.
“We settled probably a little too much,” Book said. “(DeAndre) just creates so much and gets everyone else so open. With me at point, I can’t create as much.”
The Mules actually didn’t pull away until after halftime.
Despite ESU’s poor shooting, UCM led just 29-21 at the break before opening the second half on a 15-4 run that made it 44-25.
The Hornets wouldn’t get the deficit under 15 the rest of the way.
Lee led ESU with 13 points, while Caleb Tegtmeier had nine.
The game did have some encouraging signs for the Hornets.
Book played 32 minutes and didn’t seem to be affected physically by the foot injury that kept him out the last month.
The senior struggled offensively, though, making just 2 of 12 shots for eight points.
“It was kind of like coming in from high school all over,” Book said. “You just forget the speed of the game.”
Jordan Stout, who received his first start, also was a bright spot, scoring seven points in 27 minutes.
The freshman had averaged just 4.1 minutes and one point per game coming into Saturday’s contest.
ESU has lost four straight and will now enter a three-game road swing against Pittsburg State, Washburn and Truman.
With its record, ESU (11-12, 6-8 MIAA) will most likely have to win three consecutive games in the conference tournament to earn an NCAA Tournament spot.
If all his players are back by then, Moe believes his team could end up being much more than a junky old car.
“Hopefully, we’re a new car off the showroom floor,” Moe said, “that just had a bad engine or a bad steering wheel.”
Central Missouri men 71, Emporia State 52
Saturday at White Auditorium
Central Missouri 29 42 — 71
ESU 21 31 — 52
CENTRAL MISSOURI (15-8, 8-6 MIAA)
Joe Young 6-12 2-2 16, Tremaine Luellen 4-8 2-2 11, De’Andre Byrd 3-8 4-4 10, Skip Thomas 3-8 1-2 7, Fred Dudley 1-3 4-4 6, Kevin Wollbrinck 1-5 3-4 5, Nathan Frazier 1-2 2-2 5, Walter Battle 2-2 1-2 5, Tyler Oakley 2-3 1-5 5, Paul Banister 0-0 1-2 1, Josiah Miller 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 23-52 21-29 71.
EMPORIA STATE (11-12, 6-8 MIAA)
Marvin Lee 5-9 1-2 13, Caleb Tegtmeier 2-6 3-5 9, Wes Book 2-12 3-4 8, Jordan Stout 3-6 1-1 7, Alex Pyle 2-2 0-0 5, Jordan Fithian 1-5 1-2 3, Andrew Davison 1-9 0-0 3, Matt Boswell 0-6 2-2 2, Spencer Allen 1-3 0-0 2, Doug Moore 0-2 0-0 0, Dustin Andrews 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 17-61 11-16 52.
3-point goals — Central Missouri 4-14 (Young 2-5, Frazier 1-1, Luellen 1-3, Dudley 0-2, Byrd 0-2, Miller 0-1), Emporia State 7-25 (Lee 2-4, Tegtmeier 2-6, Pyle 1-1, Book 1-7, Davison 1-6, Stout 0-1). Fouled out — Central Missouri: None; Emporia State: Tegtmeier. Rebounds — Central Missouri 46 (Wollbrinck 10), Emporia State 31 (Lee 9). Assists — Central Missouri 13 (Byrd, Wollbrinck 4), Emporia State 14 (Book 5). Total fouls — Central Missouri 21, Emporia State 21. Att — 2,712.
emporia (anonymous) says...
Great job, Jordan Stout! Hang in there, Hornets!
February 18, 2008 at 9:58 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )