The boys played a lower-scoring affair than they are typically accustomed to but came away with a 59-46 win.
It was a struggle offensively for Emporia, who shot just 3-for-16 from three and 10-for-23 from the free throw line. But head coach Lee Baldwin was happy his guys were able to find a way to win.
“Offensively, we struggled a lot,” Baldwin said. “You’re not going to win when you shoot like that on most nights, and you’re not going to score 59 points. If you would’ve told me before the game we would shoot like that and still win by double digits, I would have taken that in a heartbeat.”
Emporia led 14-9 after the first quarter and were up 18-9 before Shawnee Mission North went on a 15-0 run to take a 24-18 lead But the Spartans were able to regroup and take a 28-26 lead into the half, thanks to a three-pointer at the buzzer by Calvin Seeley.
“I have a philosophy of when a team is on a run, I’m not going to call a timeout because I want out our guys to fight through it,” Baldwin said. “I think it was good for them to fight through that adversity going into halftime. That three by Calvin at the end of the half was big.” Coach Lee Baldwin says the adjustments needed at halftime were things the Spartans have done before all season.
Emporia was up by four at the end of the third quarter but started to find some separation in the fourth by scoring eight of the first 11 points. Drew Hess led Emporia with 14 points, with 10 coming in the second half, and Cooper Rech added 13. Baldwin was glad to see someone different step up on a night when a lot of guys were struggling on offense.
“They did a really good job of finishing around the basket in the second half,” Baldwin said. “Cooper was really aggressive going to the basket and it’s just a different guy every night for us, which is encouraging when we have off nights and we find different guys to produce.”
Emporia will head to Great Bend on Friday night with 5-0 records for its final games before Christmas break. The girls will tip off at 6 p.m. with the boys slated to start at 7:30.
Emporia JV 54
Shawnee Mission North JV 46
JV Record: 1-1
