@ great bend

The Emporia High School boys basketball team lost a tight contest on the road at Great Bend, 66-65, on Friday night.

“They did a really good job of splitting our 1-3-1 and then kicking the corner, and they just made a lot of shots,” head coach Lee Baldwin said. “We just did not do a good job of keeping guys in front of us and it’s very frustrating because we did a really good job of that in the first half. Credit to them. They deserved to win. They were more aggressive and shot it better.”

It was a tale of two halves with defense shining in the first half and offense taking over for the final 16 minutes. Emporia led 11-6 after the first quarter and 23-17 at the half.

Both teams scored 19 points in the third quarter and Emporia led by eight after a Cooper Rech basket made it 44-36. But Great Bend began to chip away and tied the game at 45 with a 9-1 run. The teams would go back and forth from there until the Panthers hit a three-pointer to take a 54-53 lead, which sparked a 10-1 run that all but sealed the deal. Emporia would have a chance to tie the game, but a Parker Leeds three-pointer just before the buzzer was off the mark and a River Peters’ tip-in counted but was too little, too late.

“In the middle of the third quarter, we were up by 11 and had some momentum, and they did a really good job of not playing frantic and turning the ball over,” Baldwin said. “They were methodical getting the ball into the middle and kicking back out for three. Most teams we’ve played this year have wilted under our pressure and they did not do that and were able to stand our run.”

Baldwin noted the team tried to make adjustments in the second half during stoppages, but Emporia was unable to stop the Great Bend offense in the second half.

“I think when you give up 49 points in the second half, you don’t deserve to beat anybody,” Baldwin said. “We talked in every huddle about what they were doing to us and what we needed to do to stop it, and we just were not able to do that. They made us pay dearly for it and they made shots and hit free throws down the stretch.” Peters led the Spartans with 20 points. Rech added 17 points and Sheldon Stewart had 10.

Emporia enters the holiday break with a 5-1 record and will host Hayden on Jan. 3 at 7:30 p.m. after the new year. Coach Baldwin is disappointed with how his team is going into the break.

“When you have an 11-point lead in the third quarter, that should be a game that you put away,” Baldwin said. “So, I’m not really looking at our 5-1 start as something that I’m feeling really good about. Our team is really disappointed and there weren’t a lot of dry eyes in that locker room. We’re very disappointed with the outcome tonight and I think that’ll be what we focus on over Christmas break.”

Emporia JV 48

Great Bend JV 36

JV Record: 2-1

Emporia C 52

Great Bend C 56

C Record: 1-1