November 16, 2022-Emporia State raced out to a 14-4 lead early but had to battle back in the second half to take a 66-64 win over Rockhurst on Wednesday night in White Auditorium.
The Hornets opened the game with an alley oop dunk from Kaden Evans to Peyton Rogers-Schmidt as their first 12 points all came in the paint. ESU led 14-4 with 14:08 left in the first half when the Hawks went on a 9-2 run of their own to get within 16-13 with 12:06 left. The Hornets had a 28-25 lead with 2:10 left in the opening period but the Hawks finished the half on an 8-2 run and took a 33-30 lead to the break on Mile White three-pointer as time expired.
Two free throws from White with 14:40 left in the game gave Rockhurst a 42-36 lead to open the second half. Emporia State responded with a 12-2 run. After missing their first nine three-point attempts Kaden Evans finally found the range from beyond the arc with 12:53 to pull the Hornets within 44-43. Buom cappedthe run with a put back at the 11:22 mark to take a 48-44 lead. Rich Byhre scored the next five points for the Hawks as they took a 49-48 lead on his three-pointer with 9:38 remaining. That would be the last lead of the game for Rockhurst as Atavian Butler scored inside to give ESU a 50-49 lead and ignite a 7-0 Hornet run.
Emporia State led 60-59 with 2:28 left after Byhre scored inside off an offensive rebound, but Comithier answered with back to back layups to put the Hornets up 64-59 with 1:37 remaining. After a Jake Auer layup pulled the Hawks within three, Comithier was fouled with 18.2 seconds left. He hit one of two free throws to make it a two possession game. Davit Kakushadze scored with seven seconds left and Evans was fouled with 5.2 seconds remaining. He hit the first one to give Emporia State a 66-63 lead but missed the second. Kakushadze grabbed the rebound and up three Comithier was able to foul Nico Felici with 1.7 seconds left. Felici made the first free throw and intentionally missed the second. Rogers Schmidt was able to get enough control of the rebound to keep it away from Rockhurst as the Hornets prevailed 66-64.
Comithier led all scorers with 20 points while Buom added 15 points, eight rebounds and three blocked shots. Evans filled up the stat sheet again with nine points, nine assists, seven rebounds and two blocks.
The Hornets are back in action on Friday, November 18 when they travel to Liberty, Mo. to take on William Jewell. It will be the second game of the night on Larry Holley Court in the Mabee Center and due to unexpected travel complications with the first game, tip-off is now scheduled for 8:00 p.m.
Original source can be found here.
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