The last time Emporia State and Missouri Western played, it was the second game of the MIAA season, and the Hornets were out to make a point.
Picked to finish eighth in the MIAA by the coaches in the preseason poll, the new-look Hornets wanted to prove that they had a squad that could contend. They played with a sense of urgency and made a statement with an 88-77 win against the Griffons, moving to 2-0 in the league.
Somewhere along the way, that sense of urgency became more of a sense of entitlement. Whether the cause was winning five of six or moving into a tie for first place, it’s unclear. But the effect is crystal clear — the Hornets have lost two straight for the first time all season and dropped into a tie for third place.
“I don’t think we had a sense of urgency the beginning of the Hays game and going back to Pittsburg,” coach David Moe said. “... We’ve just been getting away with winning games playing average defense, relying on the other team to make mistakes and give us a chance to win. I think the last two games — at Hays and at Northwest — those teams didn’t make mistakes and allow us an opportunity to get back into it.
“I thought second half of Northwest we played our way back into it, and then we staved our way out of it. At Hays, they never made enough mistakes for us to get back into it.”
A week and a half after sitting atop the league, the Hornets are tied for third place and need to win tonight at Missouri Western to stay in contention for the MIAA championship.
The mistakes Moe refers to point to several different categories, but one of the most important has been turnovers. Emporia State had two more turnovers than Fort Hays State last Wednesday and 10 more than Northwest Missouri on Saturday.
“And when I say sense of urgency, I mean where every possession from the beginning of the game until the end, you’ve got to value each possession offensively and defensively, and we’ve gotten away from that,” Moe said. “I don’t know that we’ve ever really valued every possession throughout the course of every game, and it certainly hasn’t been that way since the break.
“We’ve taken too many plays off. We’ve played hard and well at times, but that’s why we’re down in every game or have to come back in every game. The other team has helped us as well. The last two games, the other team didn’t help us get back in it.”
In each of the Hornets’ last five wins, they have had to come from behind in the second half. On Saturday at Northwest Missouri, they rallied from an 11-point deficit at half to take a three-point lead on two different occasions. After they took the lead for the second time, they failed to score again for the last 6:06. But, the fact they did come back — which was not the case last week against Fort Hays State — showed progress and promise for tonight.
“I thought we made big improvement from Hays to Northwest, and I think as far as going to Western, I’m hoping we’ll be better,” Moe said. “... When we played last, it was early December and now it’s the end of January, so you’re really not looking at the same two teams. We’ve both matured. We were playing really well. I don’t think we’re playing as well now as we were back then with all the new guys.
“I thought we got better the second half against Northwest Missouri. Our defense was 100 percent better, other than a couple of mistakes — we gave up layups — we were pretty good in the second half.”