The Emporia High basketball teams split their final regular season road doubleheader at Manhattan on Tuesday night.
The Spartans trailed by 15 in the first half and a 13-point halftime deficit and rallied to defeat the Indians, 66-65, in overtime. The Manhattan girls led from wire-to-wire in a 68-27 victory over the Lady Spartans.
In the boys game, Manhattan got off to a fast start leading 19-10 after one and 32-19 at halftime. The Spartans outscored Manhattan 37-24 in the second and got a buzzer beating 3-pointer by Nolan Jacob to force overtime. Both teams exchanged buckets early in the extra session with the Spartans getting up by as many as four. Manhattan cut the deficit ton one with five seconds remaining and not electing to foul the Spartans with time expiring. Jacob led Emporia High with a career-high 22 points with six 3-pointers. Kobe Franklin added 15 and Rylan Crowell recorded a double-double of 12 points and 15 rebounds. Emporia High coach Lee Baldwin was proud of his team’s effort to rally back for a huge win on the road.
Emporia High is now 12-7, 5-4 in the Centennial League.
In the girls game, Manhattan led 18-5 after the first quarter and 44-16 halftime. Manhattan outscored the Lady Spartans 24-11 in the second half with a running clock in the fourth quarter. Adeiah Heffner and Maycee Davis each had seven for Emporia High. Emporia High coach Taylor Scott said Manhattan’s pressure bothered them often in the game.
Emporia High is now 3-16, 1-8 in the Centennial League. Emporia High returns home for one final doubleheader against Junction City on Friday night. The RV-Doc Pregame Show is at 5:45 p.m. on KVOE.
