Great Bend

The Emporia High School boys basketball team lost a close game against Great Bend on Friday night, 45-42. 

The game was close early with Emporia leading 9-6 after the first quarter and 22-19 at the half. A River Peters 3-pointer to open the third gave the Spartans their largest lead of the night at 25-19. But with Emporia up 33-28 late in the third quarter, Great Bend went on a 12-0 run that lasted into the fourth quarter. 

Head coach Lee Baldwin felt rebounding was the difference.“We really struggled to get rebounds, and that was the difference in the game,” Baldwin said. “There was a four or five-minute stretch where we could not get a rebound and I hate to make it about one thing, but all of their scores came off offensive rebounds in that third quarter.”

Calvin Seeley then hit back-to-back 3-pointers to make it a one-point game, but Emporia was never able to re-tie the game or take the lead. With Emporia down by two, Seeley had a look for another 3-pointer from the corner that would have given them the lead with two seconds remaining, but the shot bounced off the side of the rim. Baldwin thought it was going in from where he was in the moment. “We had a couple different options on that play,” Baldwin said. “We did a great job of getting downhill and we made the right pass. Calvin had already hit a couple of threes and from where I was standing, that baby was going in. He was hurting in the locker room and we let him know that shot was only there because he made two earlier. He has nothing to be ashamed of.”

Peters led Emporia with 17 points. Sheldon Stewart added eight, Harrison Trelc had seven and Seeley tallied six.

While the Spartans head into the break on a two-game losing streak, Baldwin was glad of how his team played in this one. “I just feel bad for our guys,” Baldwin said. “They were hurting really bad, but we gave everything we got tonight. That was a great atmosphere and I’m thankful for that. We had a shot at the end that didn’t go our way, and hopefully those will fall for us later in the year.”

Emporia (4-2) will be off until after the new year. Their next game will open Centennial League play against Hayden in Topeka on Tuesday, Jan. 2 at 7:30 p.m.

Emporia JV 52

Great Bend JV 34

JV Record: 2-1

Emporia C 41

Great Bend C 44

C Record: 1-1