ST. JOSEPH, Mo. — For the second-game in a row, Griffon Men's Basketball made the big shots down the stretch to defeat third-place Emporia State, 65-60, on Saturday inside the MWSU Fieldhouse.
With Missouri Western taking a 28-27 lead at halftime, St. Joseph Mayor John Josendale declared Feb. 4 "Gary Gilbert Day" honored Griffon Hall of Fame coach Gary Filbert with a plaque in his name. The Griffons came out cold, giving up a 12-3 run to Emporia State, eventually going to fall behind, 45-37.
After enduring 12 lead changes and trailing by eight with 12:21 remaining in the second half, Missouri Western went on a 15-3 run within the next four minutes to go up, 51-48. Dealing with a 58-58 stalemate with 2:23 left to play,
Taye Fields fired a bullet pass to
JaRon Thames, who promptly put it down for a go-ahead duck. This sparked a 9-2 Griffon run that helped MWSU (10-12, 6-10) swat the Hornets (12-10, 11-6) away.
NOTABLES
- The Griffons came through at the free-throw line down the stretch, going 3-ffor-3 at the charity strike to seal the deal.
- Julius Dixon had another dominate night, scoring a game and career-high 19 points shooting 8-of-16 from the field.
- Will Eames scored 17 points and grabbed nine rebounds in 34 minutes off the bench.
- Taye Fields nearly secured his 4th double-double of the season, going off for nine points and 15 rebounds. He dished four assists as well.
- Thames chipped in eight points, five rebounds and two assists.
- This is MWSU's first regular-season series sweep of ESU since 2003.
UP NEXT
Missouri Western has a chance to take revenge on Northeastern State (10-10, 7-9 MIAA) next Thursday in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, at the NSU Events Center. The RiverHawks have gone 3-6 since defeating MWSU in St. Joseph on Jan. 2, losing their last three games to Emporia, Washburn and Rogers State.
