Christian Cook paced the RiverHawks with 26 points, but critical turnovers and buckets by Emporia State in the second half would hand NSU a 59-58 home setback Sunday.
Cook turned in his 11th overall 20-point performance shooting 10 for 19 from the field with four treys. Dillon Bailey was a rebound short of a double-double and had ten points. Rashad Perkins added eight with five assists.
The RiverHawks carried the momentum into the locker room, scoring ten unanswered points and limiting the Hornets to 19 points. Northeastern State held an eight-point advantage which turned out to be their largest lead of the night.
Emporia State turned back NSU in the second stanza, overtaking them on a 13-3 run. The RiverHawks were limited to one made bucket through the first 6:16 of the second half. Emporia’s lead ballooned to nine before NSU caught some late momentum off a 15-4 run that had the RiverHawks even at 52 with 2:46 left following a Ryan Gendron trifecta.
Northeastern State wouldn’t make another bucket until the final seconds as ESU scored five unanswered points, ensuring enough of an advantage to fend off a pair of late NSU triples.
The Hornets out-rebounded the RiverHawks by 12, and on the offensive glass, they had 13. Second chance points were few for both teams, but the 8 to 1 ESU advantage was enough to tip the contest to the visitors.
“Give them (Emporia State) credit; they made the shots they needed to,” said head coach Ja Havens. “We turned it over too much and gave them too many second opportunities. Our defense was good enough to win … when you give them 13 extra possessions and 12 turnovers, that’s hard to overcome in a tight one-possession game.”
Emporia’s Owen Long led the Hornets with 26 points off the bench as they improved their record to 8-1 (2-1 MIAA).
Northeastern State drops to 5-3 (2-2 MIAA); they will return to action Saturday to host Rogers State at 3:30 p.m.
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