The Emporia State men’s basketball team isn’t about to get picky with the wins they pick up.
It’s why the Hornets, despite struggling all night on offense, were more than happy to come away with a 67-57 victory over Truman on Wednesday.
“I don’t care what it is,” ESU forward Caleb Tegtmeier said. “It could be 5-4, but if it ended with a ‘W,’ I’d be OK with it.”
For one night, the high-powered Hornets — who came into the game leading the conference in scoring at 84.4 points per game — didn’t win by outscoring their opponent.
This time, ESU won with its defense.
The Hornets held Truman (3-11, 2-3 MIAA) to 37 percent shooting and also forced 21 turnovers.
“That’s definitely the best defense we’ve played all year,” ESU coach David Moe said.
“We kind of changed our mentality more than anything,” Tegtmeier said. “We had a tendency to let the offense come at us, and I think tonight, I think we came at the offense.”
The Hornets — and especially guard Marvin Lee — also effectively shut down Truman’s Nick Certa.
The 6-foot-6 forward, who came in as the reigning MIAA player of the week, was held to just five points on 2-of-9 shooting.
“We put Marvin on Nick Certa tonight, and I don’t think anybody could have played as good of defense as he did,” Tegtmeier said. “He bullied him around and put him where he wanted to. That guy’s athletic and he’s a great shooter. Marvin put it to him tonight.”
ESU maintained a lead down the stretch by improving in areas it had struggled all game: rebounds and free throws.
With 6:44 left in the game, the Hornets held onto a 48-45 advantage despite getting out-rebounded, 42-26.
The rest of the way, the Hornets pulled down 12 of the game’s 16 rebounds, including six offensive boards in the final five minutes.
ESU also dramatically improved its free-throw percentage in the second half.
After making just four of their first 12 free throws, the Hornets made 11 of their next 16 to keep Truman at arm’s-length.
The Hornets still finished just 15-of-28 from the charity stripe (54 percent) after only shooting free throws during their 45-minute shoot-around earlier in the day.
“We still can’t seem to buy one,” Tegtmeier said. “We’ve just got to change our mentality and go up there to make it instead of not to miss.”
ESU struggled from a poor shooting night from the field as well, making just 22 of 61 shots (36 percent). The Hornets’ 67 points was their second-lowest output all year.
“There’s nothing wrong (with the offense),” ESU guard Wes Book said. “I’ve played Truman State four years now. Everything looks so open, and you don’t know when to shoot and when not to shoot. The thing with them is you just have to be aggressive.”
Book and DeAndre Townsend led ESU with 15 points each. Tegtmeier added 14 points and eight rebounds.
With the victory, ESU (7-7, 2-3) moved into a seven-way tie for fourth place in the MIAA.
Emporia State men 67, Truman 57
Wednesday at White Auditorium
Truman 25 32 — 57
Emporia State 26 41 — 67
TRUMAN (3-11, 2-3 MIAA)
Alex Henderson 5-9 4-4 14, Patrick Fandja 4-9 3-4 11, Banks Estridge 3-12 0-1 8, Ethan Freeman 2-4 3-6 7, Nick Certa 2-9 0-0 5, Mark Misiewicz 2-4 0-0 4, Stefan Garrison 1-3 0-0 2, Ryan Robinson 1-3 0-0 2, Josias Flynn 1-3 0-0 2, Gabe Landau 1-3 0-0 2, Matt Taylor 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 22-59 10-15 57.
EMPORIA STATE (7-7, 2-3 MIAA)
DeAndre Townsend 4-9 6-8 15, Wes Book 6-12 1-1 15, Caleb Tegtmeier 5-9 0-2 14, Jordan Fithian 4-13 0-2 8, Andrew Davison 1-5 4-6 7, Marvin Lee 2-7 1-3 5, Matt Boswell 0-4 2-4 2, Dustin Andrews 0-1 1-2 1, Doug Moore 0-1 0-0 0, Spencer Allen 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 22-61 15-28 67.
3-point goals — Truman 3-14 (Estridge 2-5, Certa 1-4, Misiewicz 0-2, Robinson 0-1, Flynn 0-1, Henderson 0-1), Emporia State 8-24 (Tegtmeier 4-7, Book 2-5, Townsend 1-4, Davison 1-5, Andrews 0-1, Boswell 0-1, Lee 0-1). Fouled out — Truman: Freeman, Fandja; Emporia State: None. Rebounds — Truman 46 (Fandja 12), Emporia State 38 (Tegtmeier 8). Assists — Truman 14 (Estridge, Henderson, Fandja 3), Emporia State 13 (Townsend 5). Total fouls — Truman 21, Emporia State 16. Att — 1492.