The preseason quickly came to mind as Emporia State wrapped up its regular season on Saturday at White Auditorium.
An eighth-place preseason pick by the MIAA coaches, the Hornets spent much of the conference season playing with chips on their shoulders that they were better than everyone else thought.
With an 81-74 win over Fort Hays State in a battle for third place in the MIAA, the Hornets validated their claim. Now, they’d like to be considered for an NCAA tournament bid.
“I’m not on the committee, and I don’t make the picks,” ESU coach David Moe said. “I certainly feel like that gives us an opportunity to get in. We’ll see where we are next week and see where that goes, but we feel like we’d deserve to be in, there’s no question.”
If the Hornets’ tournament resumé was lacking a marquee win against one of the top teams in the South Central region, this might have been just what they needed.
Fort Hays State (19-8, 12-8 MIAA) was ranked eighth in the most recent regional rankings, and the Tigers were an NCAA tournament team last year. They also came into the game as one of the hottest teams in the MIAA, winning 10 of their last 12.
One of those wins was a 78-68 manhandling victory against the Hornets on Jan. 21. The Tigers did whatever they wanted on offense that night, and the loss started a slump that saw the Hornets lose six of eight after a 7-2 start to the conference season. In the final game of that stretch, the Hornets blew a 23-point lead and lost at Missouri Southern.
“After that Southern game, we realized we weren’t very good defensively,” Adam Holthaus said. “We had to come in and work hard and that’s what we’ve been doing since, coming in, working hard and competing and letting our defense speak for itself.”
The Hornets came out on Saturday night and made sure the Tigers realized they were a changed team defensively. They held Hays scoreless for the first 4 minutes, 5 seconds and held Hays forward Tim Peinter to four points in the first half.
Peinter has been one of the league’s best players in the second half of the season and scored 18 against ESU in the first meeting. The Hornets swarmed him in the first half with double teams and kept him away from the basket. They continued to do the same in the second half, but they started getting whistled for fouls when they tried to play physical with Peinter. He scored 12 points in the second half — seven coming from the free throw line — and helped keep Hays in the game.
“He’s one of the best,” ESU’s Moe said. “I think he’s one of the best players in the league and the toughest matchups for everybody.”
The Hornets proved that they’re a pretty tough matchup collectively, and they had several answers for Peinter. With Holthaus scoring 14 points in the post, the ESU guards were freed up to shoot open jumpers, and they made 11-of-22 3-pointers.
The Hornets also have one of the toughest matchups in the league in Lamar Wilbern. He struggled in the Southern loss, scoring only five points, but scored 19 points in both of Emporia State’s next two wins.
Wilbern scored a game-high 26 points, made 12-of-15 free throws and had six rebounds against Hays. When the Tigers took their only lead of the game, 55-54, Wilbern answered with a 3-pointer and Hays never led again.
“That’s what he needs to do,” Moe said. “He did a great job attacking the rim offensively, hit some big shots. That’s what you expect out of him, and that’s what he’s got to deliver if we’re going to beat good teams.”
Wilbern and Emporia State (19-8, 12-8) have been at their best against the second tier of MIAA teams. They went 0-4 against the best two teams — Southwest Baptist and Central Missouri — but their 5-1 record against the next best three — Fort Hays State, Nebraska-Omaha and Washburn — led to a third-place finish in the league. All three of those teams were ranked ahead of the Hornets in the preseason rankings.
“I think that’s why we started off so hot,” Wilbern said. “Then we got complacent and had to get a reality check that it is a tough league and you’ve got to beat teams. I think we’re starting to get back to that hunger and that competitive nature that we had to start off the conference season.”
Entering Emporia State’s final four-game stretch, Moe said he thought his team needed to go 3-1 and then win one game in the conference tournament. By bouncing back from the Southern loss and winning three straight, they’ve at least achieved the first part of the equation.
“These last three games that we had were the most important,” ESU guard Robert Moores said. “They determined where we were going to be in our season, not everything else that happened in the past.”
Saturday at White Auditorium
Fort Hays State 34 40 — 74
Emporia State 39 42 — 81
FORT HAYS STATE (19-8, 12-8 MIAA)
Jeffries 8-16 0-3 17, Peinter 4-9 7-8 16, Evans 4-8 0-0 12, Kuntzch 2-5 6-6 11, Robinson 2-5 1-3 6, Igbawau 2-7 0-0 4, Washington 2-3 0-0 4, Herrman 1-3 2-2 4, Blake 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 25-58 16-22 74.
EMPORIA STATE (18-9, 12-8 MIAA)
Wilbern 6-9 12-15 26, Moores 5-8 3-4 16, Holthaus 5-9 4-5 14, Andrews 3-6 0-0 9, Niles 2-4 3-4 9, Box 2-10 0-0 5, Moore 1-3 0-0 2, Pyle 0-1 0-0 0, Ping 0-1 0-0 0, Allen 0-0 0-0 0, Stout 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 24-51 22-28 81.
3-point goals — Fort Hays State 8-19 (Evans 4-7, Peinter 1-3, Kuntzch 1-3, Jeffries 1-3, Robinson 1-2, Washington 0-1), Emporia State 11-22 (Andrews 3-5, Moores 3-4, Wilbern 2-4, Niles 2-2, Box 1-6, Pyle 0-1). Fouled out — Fort Hays State: Herrman, Igbawau; Emporia State: None. Rebounds — Fort Hays State 39 (Jeffries 7, Kuntzch 7), Emporia State 29 (Wilbern 6). Assists — Fort Hays State 14 (Jeffries 7), Emporia State 18 (Andrews 5, Moores 5). Total fouls — Fort Hays State 24, Emporia State 21. Att. — 3,433.