There really is no place like home — at least in the MIAA.
Emporia State returned back to White Auditorium on Sunday for the first time in 15 days and ended a three-game losing streak with an 87-63 win over Truman State.
“Great homecoming,” ESU guard Robert Moores said. “It feels real great to be back home, have the crowd into it. We’re comfortable being at home.”
For Hornet fans, there wasn’t much difference in the team that they saw on Sunday and the one that beat Washburn before leaving for a three-game road trip.
Once again, the ball was moving and the shots were falling at White Auditorium, where the Hornets are 10-1 this season. They shot better than 50 percent (10-of-19) from the 3-point line for the eighth time at home — they’ve only done so twice on the road.
After the Washburn win, Emporia State (14-6, 8-5 MIAA) was tied for first place in the league and was beaming with confidence. After losing its third straight game on the road Wednesday at Missouri Western, the Hornets were searching for answers.
“I think we just faced reality the past three games we lost that we needed to work even harder coming down the stretch,” Moores said. “The second half is most important, not the first, it’s how you end up.”
Moores and his teammates recommitted themselves last week after they started the second-half of their conference schedule with losses to teams they beat earlier this season. Part of the solution, they decided, was spending extra time working on their jumpers outside of practice.
Moores said he started lifting weights again, too, which he had not been doing since the start of the season because he was worried it would affect his shot.
After Sunday’s performance, Moores can rest assured that his jumper will be just fine. Moores made 5-of-6 3-pointers and scored 19 points.
“I feel guys individually stepped up their work ethics,” said Lamar Wilbern, who scored 13 points. “We’ve been getting a lot of shots up outside of practice, and it paid off.”
The play of ESU guard Tim Niles could also decide which way the rest of the season goes for Emporia State. Niles played only one minute in the second half against Missouri Western and went scoreless for the first time since the regular season opener at Eastern New Mexico.
Niles came off the bench to score a game-high 23 points against Truman State, his final basket coming on a 3-pointer from five feet outside the 3-point line.
“I’ve always been told that I can shoot that far,” Niles said. “I have confidence I can, but you don’t want to disappoint certain people. So today it was just a different story. I didn’t want to let down, so I just shot whenever I had the open shot.”
Niles’ final three was irrelevant, but he was the most important player on the court when Emporia State put the game away. Niles scored eight points during a 16-0 run in the second half. He started the run at the 15:16 mark with two free throws. He also scored on a step-back 3-pointer and a traditional 3-point play on a finger roll off the glass.
“You need him to play well,” ESU coach David Moe said. “I don’t know that he really played well at Missouri Western, and he’s a good player. Obviously we need him. We can’t afford to have our key options not be a factor.”
While just getting a victory was big for the Hornets, Sunday’s win did come with a caveat. Truman State (6-14, 1-12) is in last place in the MIAA and has yet to win a road game this year.
After the game, the Hornets immediately started to focus on a far-more difficult task coming Wednesday in first-place Central Missouri.
“We’ve got to move past this game,” Moe said. “We can’t dwell on this. We’ve got to get ready. The Central Missouri game is huge. They’re playing better. They’re playing the best defense in the league, and we’ve got to get better offensively and make sure that we give ourselves a chance at home coming up.”
Moe has said that he thought part of the problem during the three-game losing streak was the Hornets had started to feel too good about themselves, but it was obvious on Sunday the Hornets have changed their attitudes.
“It feels good, but we can’t get complacent,” Wilbern said. “We’ve got a big one coming up, and we’ve got to continue taking care of business. It’s a huge game. They’re No. 1 right now, so it’s huge for us, and they’re ranked coming in here and they beat us. So we got a lot to build a big-sized chip on our shoulders and come out and play good.”
Sunday at White Auditorium
Truman 35 28 — 63
Emporia State 47 40 — 87
TRUMAN (6-14, 1-12 MIAA)
Griffin 8-11 0-2 16, Filchev 7-10 1-1 15, Estridge 2-5 6-6 12, Nwelue 3-9 0-0 6, Henderson 1-5 0-0 3, Garrison 1-3 0-0 3, Freeman 0-2 2-4 2, Misiewicz 1-3 0-0 2, Landau 1-1 0-0 2, Scott 1-2 0-0 2, Kulage 0-1 0-0 0, Taylor 0-0 0-0 0, Fandja 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 25-52 9-13 63.
EMPORIA STATE (14-6, 8-5)
Niles 7-11 6-7 23, Moores 6-8 2-2 19, Wilbern 5-11 3-3 13, Holthaus 4-5 3-3 11, Andrews 3-6 0-1 8, Box 3-6 1-2 7, Boswell 0-1 2-2 2, Stout 1-1 0-0 2, Ping 1-2 0-0 2, Moore 0-0 0-0 0, Pyle 0-0 0-0 0, Allen 0-1 0-0 0, Burdolski 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 30-52 17-20 87.
3-point goals — Truman 4-10 (Estridge 2-3, Garrison 1-1, Henderson 1-3, Misiewicz 0-2, Nwelue 0-1), Emporia State 10-19 (Moores 5-6, Niles 3-5, Andrews 2-3, Box 0-2, Allen 0-1, Wilbern 0-2). Fouled out — Truman: None; Emporia State: None. Rebounds — Truman 28 (Filchev 7), Emporia State 24 (Box 5). Assists — Truman 9 (Henderson, Estridge, Griffin 2), Emporia State 13 (Niles, Andrews 4). Total fouls — Truman 20, Emporia State 13. Att. — 1,412.