TOPEKA — Robert Moores could barely walk on Tuesday, and a week and a half ago, the Emporia State Hornets limped out of Missouri Southern after blowing a 23-point lead.
Moores and the Hornets strutted into Lee Arena on Wednesday on Washburn’s senior night, and they nearly blew another big lead before showing that they still have some fight left in them with a 78-63 win that exorcised their Southern demons.
“I thought the Southern game could have demoralized us, because we played as great as we played all year and just panicked and gave it away,” ESU coach David Moe said. “And tonight we showed maturity when Washburn closed the gap.”
A week and a half ago, it looked as if it were time to close the book on Emporia State’s season, and switch over to wait-’til-next-year mode. The Missouri Southern loss was the Hornets’ sixth loss in their last eight games at the time. They looked destined for a middle-of-the-pack finish in the MIAA, and an NCAA tourney bid was a pipe dream.
Emporia State (17-9, 11-8 MIAA) has now won two straight, sits alone in fourth place in the conference, and will enter next week’s MIAA Tournament as a No. 3 seed with a win on Saturday against Fort Hays State.
“Beating Washburn just made the Hays game bigger,” Moe said.
The Hornets were not included in Wednesday’s regional rankings, but No. 10 Nebraska-Omaha suffered a blowout loss at Missouri Southern on Wednesday and should drop out of the rankings next week. Fort Hays State is ranked eighth in the region, and Emporia State could make a case to take the Tigers’ spot with a win on Saturday.
It all seemed like an unlikely scenario entering Wednesday’s game. Central Missouri, ranked second in the region and in second place in the conference, was the only team to beat the Ichabods at Lee Arena all season. Even MIAA leader Southwest Baptist, the fourth-ranked team in the country, did not win at Washburn.
“We knew we were coming into a hostile environment, especially since it was senior night,” Moores said. “We just wanted to try to go in there and take that away from them.”
Moores was an unlikely candidate to quiet the crowd of 3,840. He did not practice on Tuesday because of a foot strain, and he said he could barely walk. That didn’t seem to affect his jump shot on Wednesday.
Moores scored 15 of his 21 points in the first half and helped the Hornets take a 41-29 lead into halftime.
“I just came out aggressive. I really wanted this game and wanted this win,” Moores said. “Me and my teammates were discussing on how we should come out aggressive on somebody else’s turf, and that’s what we did. We came out shooting the ball really well.”
The Hornets continued to add onto their lead in the second half and it reached 19 on an Adam Holthaus layup with 14 minutes, 42 second left. But once again, they watched it disappear.
Southern made its comeback playing a pressing defense and then falling back into a 2-3 zone. The Ichabods also went to a zone in the second half, but they played a matchup 3-2 zone designed to take away Moores and ESU’s other 3-point shooters.
When Washburn switched its defense, Emporia State’s offense went stagnant, and Washburn rallied, cutting the lead to three.
“I just feel we were a little impatient,” ESU guard Lamar Wilbern said. “When a team switches up a defense, it shocks you a little bit.”
After Paul Byers made a 3-pointer to pull Washburn within three, 58-55, Emporia State called a timeout and sophomore big man Holthaus went back into the game.
Moe told his team to go inside, and Holthaus’ presence made it so Washburn could no longer only focus on the ESU shooters. Wilbern hit a jumper to put ESU back up five, and after DeAndre Eggins answered with a layup, the Hornets went on a 10-2 run.
Wilbern, who scored 19 points, started the run with a basket inside, then followed with a 3-pointer on a kickout from Moores. Jeremiah Box finished the run with a 3-pointer and a follow-up dunk off a Holthaus miss that put ESU ahead 70-59 with 1:36 left. Box let out a scream and the ESU faithful behind the bench gave the Hornets a standing ovation.
“That was the exclamation point,” Box said.
Box scored 21 points and led ESU with eight rebounds, and unlike against Southern, Box and Wilbern provided an answer when Washburn went on its run.
“The difference tonight is when they started making their little run, we kept our composure,” Box said. “The last time when Southern came back, we kind of lost our heads and rushed things. We didn’t rush anything; we just kept swinging the ball and waiting for a good shot and working it as a team, and we fought back.”
Wednesday at Lee Arena
Emporia State 41 37 — 78
Washburn 29 34 — 63
EMPORIA STATE (17-9, 11-8 MIAA)
Box 8-13 3-4 21, Moores 7-13 4-5 21, Wilbern 6-13 4-4 19, Holthaus 4-7 0-0 8, Stout 1-1 0-0 3, Niles 1-3 0-1 3, Andrews 0-3 3-4 3, Moore 0-0 0-0 0, Boswell 0-0 0-0 0, Allen 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 27-53 14-18 78.
WASHBURN (15-12, 11-9)
Byers 6-11 1-2 17, Williams 6-12 1-2 14, Malone 3-10 2-2 8, Eggins 1-3 6-8 8, Stutz 3-4 1-3 7, Carter 2-4 0-0 6, Daniels 1-5 0-0 2, Kimble 0-3 1-2 1, Feighny 0-0 0-0 0, McNeill 0-4 0-0 0. Totals 22-56 12-19 63.
3-point goals — Emporia State 10-23 (Wilbern 3-5, Moores 3-7, Box 2-4, Niles 1-3, Stout 1-1, Andrews 0-3), Washburn 7-27 (Byers 4-8, Carter 2-4, Williams 1-6, Daniels 0-1, McNeill 0-3, Eggins 0-2, Malone 0-3). Fouled out — Emporia State: None; Washburn: None. Rebounds — Emporia State 30 (Box 8), Washburn 33 (Byers 8). Assists — Emporia State 11 (Moores 7), Washburn 11 (Eggins 5). Total fouls — Emporia State 21, Washburn 19. Att. — 3,840.