ESU men can’t hold on to early momentum in 85-66 loss to Southern
By Jesse Newell
Thursday, January 24, 2008
JOPLIN, Mo. — The Emporia State men’s basketball team played well when things were going well Wednesday night against Missouri Southern.
Problem was, the Hornets never came up with an answer when things started going poorly, giving up large runs in each half of an 85-66 loss to the Lions at the Leggett & Platt Athletic Center.
“Adversity hit,” ESU forward Caleb Tegtmeier said, “and we all just flopped.”
Going without senior Wes Book, who is out an undetermined amount of time with a right foot sprain, ESU started strong.
Led by six points from Jordan Fithian, the Hornets opened the game with a 13-2 run.
“We were just moving the ball so well and breaking the press and sticking together,” Tegtmeier said.
From there, though, everything went haywire.
ESU — a team that rarely has a team pressure it because of the quickness of point guard DeAndre Townsend — started having problems just getting it to mid-court.
Southern’s full-court press forced 12 turnovers over the next 8 minutes.
“They put the press on, and we started running away from it,” ESU coach David Moe said. “We panicked.”
The Lions used an 18-3 spurt to take a 20-16 lead, then extended that advantage to 41-31 at the half.
“They got on that little run, and it just hit us, and we didn’t know how to bounce back from it,” ESU guard Andrew Davison said.
The Hornets finished the first half with 14 turnovers.
Even when they broke the press, it didn’t always result in easy points.
Without Book in the lineup, Moe altered from his normal philosophy, telling his players to reset the offense after getting by the press.
The change seemed to make ESU even more passive against the aggressive defense.
“We attacked it to not turn it over instead of attacking it to score,” Moe said. “It was a bad move on my part, and I won’t do it again.”
Southern extended the lead in the second half, forcing four more turnovers during a 12-0 run that made it 59-39 with 13:10 left.
It didn’t get any prettier for ESU. Often bothered by calls going against them, the Hornets had three players foul out in the final minutes (Fithian, Tegtmeier and Spencer Allen). Fithian’s fifth foul came on a technical after uttering his frustration about his fourth foul with 8:56 left.
“We didn’t fight through (adversity),” Tegtmeier said. “We didn’t stay together. Just a lack of leadership. When Wes went out, nobody really stepped up in his spot.”
ESU was led by Davison, who scored 17 points with the help of 4-of-8 shooting from the outside. Townsend and Fithian added nine points each.
Moe said he was most disappointed in himself and the four mainstay seniors in the starting lineup: Tegtmeier, Fithian, Townsend and Marvin Lee.
“The five of us needed to make the game easier for the other guys,” Moe said. “I don’t know that any of us five did what we were supposed to do or what we were expected to do.”
Bothered by Southern’s constantly changing defenses, the Hornets finished with 26 turnovers, their second-highest total of the season.
The press was a far cry from what ESU prepares against in practice, as Tegtmeier said his own team’s pressure could usually be broken with a pass or two.
The task was much more difficult against Southern on Wednesday.
“It’s tough to simulate their athleticism,” Tegtmeier said.
ESU scored in the 60s for the third time in its last four games. Before that, the Hornets had scored at least 70 points in each of their 12 contests.
The loss also might have seemingly stopped any momentum ESU was riding. The Hornets believed their 84-75 overtime victory at Central Missouri on Saturday might propel them for the rest of the year.
It turned out the positive mojo only carried them about 5 1/2 minutes on Wednesday.
“It’s not that we didn’t try hard,” Moe said. “We just were never good enough to be in the game.”
Missouri Southern men 85, ESU 66
Wednesday at Joplin, Mo.
Emporia State 31 35 — 66
Missouri Southern 41 44 — 85
EMPORIA STATE (8-8, 3-4 MIAA)
Andrew Davison 4-8 5-6 17, Jordan Fithian 4-5 1-2 9, DeAndre Townsend 3-7 2-3 9, Caleb Tegtmeier 3-4 0-0 7, Marvin Lee 2-8 0-0 6, Spencer Allen 2-4 0-0 5, Jordan Stout 1-2 2-4 4, Matt Boswell 1-7 2-4 4, Alex Pyle 1-1 0-0 3, Dustin Andrews 0-1 2-2 2, Doug Moore 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 21-47 14-21 66.
MISSOURI SOUTHERN (11-5, 5-2 MIAA)
Vincent Ateba 6-7 11-13 23, T.J. Britton 6-6 2-2 16, Octavius Hawkins 5-8 1-2 11, Matt Monroe 4-6 1-2 10, Tony Webb 4-11 0-0 8, Skyler Bowlin 1-5 4-4 7, Brandon Smith 2-3 0-0 5, Tyler Ryerson 1-2 0-1 2, Kyle Schrage 0-2 2-2 2, T.J. Williams 0-0 1-2 1, Chris Scruggs 0-0 0-0 0, Joey Savage 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 29-50 22-28 85.
3-point goals — Emporia State 10-24 (Davison 4-8, Lee 2-4, Pyle 1-1, Tegtmeier 1-2, Allen 1-1, Townsend 1-4, Andrews 0-1, Boswell 0-2, Stout 0-1), Missouri Southern 5-14 (Britton 2-2, Monroe 1-2, Smith 1-2, Bowlin 1-3, Ryerson 0-1, Webb 0-3, Hawkins 0-1). Fouled out — Emporia State: Fithian, Tegtmeier, Allen; Missouri Southern: None. Rebounds — Emporia State 22 (Tegtmeier 5), Missouri Southern 31 (Ateba 10). Assists — Emporia State 12 (Townsend 6), Missouri Southern 23 (Webb 6). Total fouls — Emporia State 26, Missouri Southern 24. Att — 1,372.