The Emporia State basketball teams suffered a sweep to Pittsburg State at John Lance Arena in Pittsburg, Kan. on Thursday.
The ESU women faded late in an 82-61 defeat to the #6 Gorillas. Pitt State led 19-9 in the first quarter, but ESU scored the last seven points of the frame to trail by three heading to the second. The Gorillas rebuilt a nine-point lead with less than three minutes to go in the half but wouldn’t score again before the break. After a last-second Lady Hornet 3-pointer was counted then disallowed after review, E-State trailed 37-31 after two. ESU whittled the lead down to just one after a basket to open the fourth quarter, but that was as close as the Black & Gold got as a Macey Gandee layup lipped out that would have given ESU their first lead of the game. Instead, the Gorillas got an and one on the other end to spark an 11-0 run to put the Lady Hornets away as part of a 16-4 run to end the game. Head coach Brian Ostermann said it was ESU’s effort that gave them a shot to pull the upset.
Freshman center Makenzie McDaniel hit her first eight shots of the game to finish with 16 points and nine rebounds. The ESU (9-13, 4-9 MIAA) bench outscored the PSU bench 28-12 in the game.
In the men’s contest, E-State led early, faded in the middle of the game, and then a late comeback came up short in a 85-79 decision that put Pitt State into second place in the league standings on their own. The Hornets started the game on a 9-0 run and eventually took their biggest lead at 30-14, but the Gorillas scored 10-straight to cut it to six before ESU settled for a five-point lead at the intermission. The teams traded the lead 11 times with four ties before PSU went on a 14-2 run to take the lead for good. ESU trailed by as many as 14 in the second half with just over four minutes to go, but cut it to five with 27 seconds to play, but Pitt State hit four free throws in the final 22 seconds to clinch the win. After holding the hot-shooting Gorillas to 38% shooting in the first 20 minutes, head Hornet Tom Billeter was dismayed at the second-half defense that allowed PSU to connect on 69% of its shots in the second.
Karyiek Dixon tallied a career-high 29 points for E-State (7-15, 4-9 MIAA) while Chris Harris added 14 points with a personal best four 3-pointers. Malik Edwards Jr. didn’t play the game while sitting out due to concussion protocol. The Hornets return to action Saturday to take on Missouri Southern in Joplin, Mo. Coverage begins at 1:00 p.m. on the Hornet Sports Network/Mix 104.9.
