PITTSBURG — For the first time in a month, the Emporia State men had their full roster available for Wednesday’s game against Pittsburg State.
It wasn’t enough to keep the Hornets from losing their fifth straight.
The Gorillas dominated from the start, leading the entire game in an 88-71 victory over ESU.
“Any time you come out as flat as we did and as hot as they did, it’s real hard to come back,” ESU senior Wes Book said. “It takes a lot of energy, and we didn’t have it.”
The Hornets were hampered by a horrific start, falling behind 28-6 after just 8 minutes of play.
While PSU hit 11 of its first 19 shots, including three 3-pointers, ESU started just 2-for-13.
During one stretch, the Hornets missed 10 consecutive shots, going scoreless for nearly 6 minutes.
ESU would battle back, scoring 26 of the half’s final 38 points to go into the break down 43-35.
After falling behind again by as many as 13, the Hornets trimmed the lead to seven at 60-53 on Andrew Davison’s 3-pointer with 9:17 left.
“We crawled and dug back a little bit,” ESU guard DeAndre Townsend said, “but their confidence early had already kicked in and they had already established in their head that they could get it going.”
Two minutes later, a Carlos Taylor trey started a 14-3 PSU spurt that gave the Gorillas a comfortable 77-61 advantage with 4:14 left.
ESU wouldn’t get the deficit under 13 the rest of the way.
“We’re in a situation where we’re struggling,” ESU coach David Moe said. “I’ve got to find the answers and start implementing the answers.”
The Gorillas’ dominant play was reflected in the stat sheet.
PSU won the battle inside, out-rebounding ESU 43-28. In addition, post player Cory Abercrombie was nearly unstoppable, scoring 26 points on 12-of-17 shooting to go along with 11 rebounds.
The Gorillas also hurt the Hornets from long range.
ESU played a zone defense for most of the second half, and PSU ended up shooting right over it, making 10 of 20 three-point attempts.
The Gorillas came in as the seventh-best three-point shooting team in the conference at 32.5 percent.
“They’re not known to be a good-shooting team,” Book said, “but to their credit, they shot well.”
Meanwhile, ESU still seemed to be inching its way back to health.
Townsend — who hadn’t practiced in five days and was only cleared to play basketball on Wednesday — didn’t look like his normal self, struggling to a 4-for-16 shooting night.
ESU’s top two scorers, Book and Townsend, still haven’t practiced together since Book returned from his foot injury on Saturday.
“There’s no excuse, no explanations, that’s what we always say,” Book said, “but it’s tough.”
Book led ESU with 18 points on 4-of-9 shooting, while Caleb Tegtmeier and Townsend both had 15.
“When you’re struggling, you start losing confidence,” Moe said. “We’ve got to get that confidence back and believe in each other.”
Pittsburg State men 88, Emporia State 71
Wednesday at Pittsburg
Emporia State 35 36 — 71
Pittsburg State 43 45 — 88
EMPORIA STATE (11-13, 6-9 MIAA)
Wes Book 4-9 6-8 18, DeAndre Townsend 4-16 5-8 15, Caleb Tegtmeier 5-7 3-5 15, Andrew Davison 4-8 0-0 12, Alex Pyle 3-6 0-0 7, Jordan Fithian 2-8 0-0 4, Marvin Lee 0-2 0-0 0, Dustin Andrews 0-0 0-0 0, Spencer Allen 0-0 0-0 0, Jordan Stout 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 22-57 14-21 71.
PITTSBURG STATE (16-8, 7-8 MIAA)
Cory Abercrombie 12-17 2-3 26, Jeff Ivory 8-13 0-0 16, Spencer Magana 5-9 4-4 16, Chris Roe 4-6 1-1 12, Carlos Taylor 2-6 0-0 6, Michael Hutchingson 2-5 0-0 6, Keith Windom 1-1 0-0 3, Justin McCoy 0-2 2-2 2, Seth Burris 0-1 1-2 1, Aaron Jackson 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 34-63 10-12 88.
3-point goals — Emporia State 13-30 (Davison 4-8, Book 4-6, Townsend 2-9, Tegtmeier 2-3, Pyle 1-3, Lee 0-1), Pittsburg State 10-20 (Roe 3-5, Magana 2-4, Hutchingson 2-2, Taylor 2-6, Windom 1-1, Jackson 0-2). Fouled out — Emporia State: None; Pittsburg State: None. Rebounds — Emporia State 28 (Book 8), Pittsburg State 43 (Abercrombie 11). Assists — Emporia State 15 (Townsend 4), Pittsburg State 29 (Hutchingson 9). Total fouls — Emporia State 15, Pittsburg State 22. Att — 1,393.