ST. JOSEPH, MO. — Bullied, beaten and bruised would about sum up the 75-58 loss for Emporia State on Tuesday at Missouri Western.
The Hornets were bullied on the glass, getting outrebounded 39-23; beaten to every loose ball; and bruised — that would be their egos.
After sharing a lead for first place in the MIAA, the Hornets have looked like a different team and lost three straight on the road, the last two coming to teams that they beat handily during the first half of the conference season.
“We’re not helping each other defensively or offensively, and we’re standing around always watching somebody else,” ESU coach David Moe said. “We don’t help on defense. We don’t help each other get open on offense. We’re just getting bullied out there, and everything that you can do bad, we did bad tonight and we got the result that we deserved.”
Moe spent the night trying to find a lineup of guys that would play the way he wanted. He inserted Robert Moores and Adam Holthaus into the starting lineup.
At the 13:24 mark of the first half and Emporia State trailing 12-10, Moe went with a complete line change, replacing the starters with Tim Niles, Matt Boswell, Alex Pyle, Shang Ping and Spencer Allen.
That group didn’t fare much better — in fact, they fared much worse. The Griffons went on a 10-2 run and Moe went back to his starters.
Emporia State chipped away at the lead the rest of the first half and only trailed by three at half, 33-30. But Missouri Western opened the second half on a 10-2 run, and then Moe really started searching. Seldom-used sophomore Jordan Stout played 13 minutes in the second half. The never-before-seen lineup of Stout, Andrews, Ping, Boswell and Jeremiah Box cut what had been a 15-point lead to 53-48 with 9:55 left, but the Griffons responded by going on a 7-0 run, and the Hornets didn’t get any closer than nine after that.
“I’m searching for guys that want to compete and play together and give us a chance to win,” Moe said. “We haven’t had that in the two games prior and we didn’t have it tonight. Got to keep searching and weed out until we find the guys that want to make each other better. We’re not talented enough to go out there and win without outworking the other team, and we’re not even close to matching the other team’s energy at all.”
The inferior energy level was evident in the hustle categories against the Griffons. They outscored ESU 17-9 on second-chance points; 12-0 on fast-break points; and nearly every loose ball and rebound ended up in the hands of a Griffon. At one point in the second half, three different Hornets touched a rebound and had a chance to secure the ball, but it bounced off all three and into the hands of Dominque Thuston, who caught the ball and put in a reverse layin in one fluid motion.
“They just went after the boards harder than we did,” Box said. “At times we did box out and somehow they still got the ball, probably because they were more aggressive than us. Other times we didn’t box out and just didn’t get it.”
As far as Moe’s concerned, his team doesn’t get much right now. When the Hornets won five of six in conference, they did so by buying into ball movement, defense and a team-first attitude.
It also helped that three of those wins were at White Auditorium, but it was the way the Hornets were playing that brought them success. In the last three games, that team has come and gone, and it barely resembled the team that played the second half on Wednesday night.
“I think off the success we had early, we probably started feeling like we were better than we were,” Moe said. “And then you lose control as a coach with the attitude of guys not being as good as they think they are, and then you go out and get embarrassed.”
The good news is the Hornets return back home on Sunday to play last-place Truman. They are also still tied for third place in the conference at 7-5, because Nebraska-Omaha lost to Fort Hays State on Wednesday. Washburn is also 7-5, creating a three-way tie for third, and three other teams are within a game of third.
For the Hornets to remain in the top half of the standings, the losing streak has to stop at three.
“We’ve just got to search within ourselves and compete,” said Lamar Wilbern, who led the Hornets with 20 points. “At the end of the day, whoever wants it more is going to get it, and these last three games, the teams that we played wanted it more. ... We beat Northwest and Western, and they came with a chip on their shoulder and they were playing to take us out, and we were kind of just playing not to lose instead of playing to win. So you get your result.”
Wednesday at MWSU Fieldhouse
Emporia State 30 28 — 58
Missouri Western 33 42 — 75
EMPORIA STATE (13-6, 7-5 MIAA)
Wilbern 9-16 0-0 20, Box 4-11 0-0 10, Moores 3-9 1-3 8, Holthaus 3-4 0-0 6, Ping 2-2 1-2 5, Andrews 2-5 1-1 5, Stout 1-3 0-0 2, Allen 1-1 0-0 2, Pyle 0-1 0-0 0, Boswell 0-0 0-0 0, Niles 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 25-54 3-6 58.
MISSOURI WESTERN (9-10, 6-6)
Thuston 10-13 0-0 25, Johnson 8-18 3-4 19, Rhodes 5-9 1-2 12, Noblin 2-4 0-0 6, Goodwin 2-5 0-0 4, Nolan 2-3 0-1 4, Bush 1-2 0-0 2, Parker 1-2 0-0 2, Beck 0-1 1-2 1, Mead 0-1 0-0 0, Jones 0-1 0-0 0, Anderson 0-0 0-0 0, Smith 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 31-60 5-9 75.
3-point goals — Emporia State 5-20 (Box 2-6, Wilbern 2-5, Moores 1-5, Andrews 0-1, Stout 0-1, Niles 0-2), Missouri Western 8-23 (Thuston 5-6, Noblin 2-4, Rhodes 1-3, Nolan 0-1, Beck 0-1, Jones 0-1, Smith 0-1, Goodwin 0-2, Johnson 0-4). Fouled out — Emporia State: None; Missouri Western: None. Rebounds — Emporia State 23 (Holthaus 6), Missouri Western 39 (Johnson 9). Assists — Emporia State 9 (Wilbern 4), Missouri Western 18 (Parker 5). Total fouls — Emporia State 12, Missouri Western 10. Att. — 2,009.
ESU men ranked seventh in regional poll
Emporia State was ranked seventh in the first South Central Regional poll released on Wednesday, but the Hornets will most likely fall in the rankings after Wednesday’s loss.
South Central Regional poll
1. Central Oklahoma
2. Southwest Baptist
3. Central Missouri
4. Angelo St.
5. Incarnate Word
6. St. Edward’s
7. Emporia St.
8. West Texas A&M
9. Neb.-Omaha
10. Fort Hays St.