2nd Straight Stunner
Hornets upset Fort Hays State, advance to MIAA Tournament final against Northwest Missouri State
By Jesse Newell
Saturday, March 8, 2008
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Emporia State Hornets finally have their date with destiny.
They have DeAndre Townsend to thank for that.
The point guard scored 30 points — including eight during a 15-0 second-half run — as eighth-seeded ESU posted its second straight upset with a 71-63 victory over Fort Hays State on Saturday night in the semifinals of the MIAA Tournament.
“Fighting for another day. That’s all I can say,” Townsend said. “Day after day, I want to come out and lead my team to another day and another opportunity.”
With the victory, the Hornets advance to Sunday’s MIAA Championship against Northwest Missouri State at 3:30 p.m.
Suddenly, an ESU season filled with what-ifs and could-have-beens can be rectified with a single game.
Sunday’s winner will get an automatic entry into next week’s NCAA Tournament.
This is the first time in league history that a No. 8 seed has advanced to the MIAA Tournament’s final game. It’s also the first time that ESU has ever made it to the title game.
“I don’t know that we picked this out and the beginning of the year to be our goal, but it’s what we were thrust into,” ESU coach David Moe said. “We’ve just got to make sure we stay loose.”
The Hornets secured their victory Saturday by giving the ball to Townsend — and the point guard didn’t let them down.
The 5-foot-8 senior dominated the second half, frequently making his way through the lane to either score or get wide-open shots for his teammates.
Fort Hays State coach Mark Johnson said his plan was to not give help defensively on Townsend, with the hope being that ESU’s other players wouldn’t beat FHSU.
Townsend ended up making enough plays by himself in the second half, scoring 19 points, making 5 of 8 field goals and also hitting both of his three-point attempts.
“When you have the best player on the floor, his team wins a lot of times,” Johnson said. “He was really good tonight.”
Townsend’s takeover helped ESU climb out of a first-half deficit.
The Hornets trailed 32-28 at halftime before three Townsend baskets — including his two treys of the second half — helped spark the 15-0 spurt that put ESU up 43-36 with 13:30 left.
“We rode it as long as we could,” Moe said. “Bear (Townsend) is a pretty good horse to ride when he’s rolling.”
The Hornets, despite turning it over four times against the Tigers’ press in the final minutes, didn’t see their lead dip under four points the rest of the way.
Though ESU’s second-half stretch was the difference, the team’s ability to stick around in the first half turned out to be just as important.
After hitting three of their first four three-point attempts, the Hornets went just 1-for-7 from long range the rest of the half.
At one point, ESU went 7:36 without a field goal but still managed to trail by just four at halftime.
FHSU never got its lead above eight in the first half.
“We made no runs in the first half,” ESU guard Andrew Davison said.
Townsend, who jokingly gave Moe a chest-bump in the post-game news conference, made 10 of 17 field-goal attempts and added five assists.
Caleb Tegtmeier contributed 13 points, while Davison added 11.
FHSU, which led the conference by making 40 percent of its 3-pointers in the regular season, went just 5-for-27 from long range on Saturday (19 percent).
The Hornets get their chance for revenge on Sunday, facing the team that had a major hand in unraveling the Hornets’ year.
In the teams’ first game on Feb. 7, Davison appeared to hit a game-winning half-court shot at the buzzer, only to have it overturned after an official used a replay and a cell-phone stopwatch on the review.
ESU went on to lose the game, 91-83 in overtime, and the teams went in different directions after that.
The Hornets lost seven of eight to end the regular season; the Bearcats are 9-2 since their victory over ESU.
“They’ll have a little extra motivation, I’m sure, with that game,” Northwest coach Steve Tappmeyer said. “We always tell our team we have no control over what their mindset is or what their emotion is. We can just control ours.”
“... I know (ESU) will remember that one, but we feel like we’ve got a lot to play for, too.
Emporia State men 71, Fort Hays State 63
Saturday at Municipal Auditorium
Emporia State 28 43 — 71
Fort Hays State 32 31 — 63
EMPORIA STATE (14-15)
DeAndre Townsend 10-17 7-9 30, Caleb Tegtmeier 3-6 4-4 13, Andrew Davison 2-7 5-7 11, Jordan Fithian 2-4 4-7 8, Marvin Lee 1-6 4-6 6, Dustin Andrews 1-2 1-3 3, Spencer Allen 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 19-43 25-36 71.
FORT HAYS STATE (19-10)
LaTravis Turner 7-10 1-1 15, Terry Jeffries 5-11 0-0 12, Tim Peintner 4-7 0-0 9, Jake Sims 2-10 2-2 7, Rob Igbawua 2-3 1-3 5, Tyrone Evans 2-13 0-0 5, Ryan Herrman 1-5 2-2 4, Charles Robinson 1-2 0-0 2, Shawn Emerick 1-1 0-2 2, Corbin Kuntzsch 1-3 0-0 2. Totals 26-65 6-10 63.
3-point goals — Emporia State 8-18 (Tegtmeier 3-6, Townsend 3-5, Davison 2-4, Andrews 0-1, Lee 0-1, Fithian 0-1), Fort Hays State 5-27 (Jeffries 2-5, Sims 1-6, Peintner 1-2, Evans 1-11, Kuntzsch 0-2, Robinson 0-1). Fouled out — Emporia State: None; Fort Hays State: Jeffries. Rebounds — Emporia State 34 (Fithian 10), Fort Hays State 33 (Turner 6). Assists — Emporia State 11 (Townsend 5), Fort Hays State 13 (Jeffries 5). Total fouls — Emporia State 14, Fort Hays State 29.
emporia (anonymous) says...
OHMIGOSH! Yea Hornets! You are AWESOME. Good luck today!
March 9, 2008 at 10:18 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )