KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The third time was not the charm for the RiverHawks who saw their season end with a 72-68 loss to Emporia State in the opening round of the MIAA Tournament on Wednesday afternoon.

Emporia State (14-15) who swept the home-and-home series during the regular season dug themselves out of a 16-point deficit to advance to the quarterfinal to face top-ranked Northwest Missouri on Thursday.

"We had some hiccups midway through the second half," said head coach Mark Downey. "[ESU's] Sawyer (Glick) hit a 3 and then we lose him in transition and he makes another one unguarded. When you let a kid like that that can shoot that well...I mean he's played in some big time games in his career. That kid is good and can really shoot it. You can't let a kid like that get a wide open shot like that in what could be the last game of his career."

"We had way too many games like that this year," Downey said. "That's been our m.o., especially the last four of five games. We have a lot of momentum in the first half and are playing well and then we don't guard anybody in the second half and guys get going downhill and get things in transition to swing the momentum. We don't do a very good job of stopping it. That's something we're going to fix, I promise."

Trent Cantrell paced the RiverHawks with 18 points on 6-for-13 shooting.  Caleb Smith had 15 points and Bradley George added ten for NSU.  Aaron Givens had nine points and three dunks on the Hornets.

The game was a tale of two halves for the RiverHawks.

Northeastern State closed out the final seven minutes on a 17-6 run on the Hornets.  A run of ten unanswered points highlighted the stretch with Smith scoring nine points.   The Hornets finished the half with shooting 1-for-7 from the field with four of the final six points coming from the free-throw line.

The tide turned for the RiverHawks out of the gates in the second half with Emporia taking advantage of a four-minute NSU scoreless run.  Emporia State would go on a 15-2 run to trim the RiverHawks' lead down four (45-41) by the 13:10 mark.   

NSU's lead continued to dwindle and with just over 10 minutes left Emporia tied the game at 49-49 after a layup.   Cantrell hit a trey to stop Emporia's run and the RiverHawks pulled back ahead with a 9-1 run of their own.   
Northeastern State went up 60-53 with 6:01 left before the Hornets attached back an 8-0 run. Emporia took their first lead since the start of the game following a three-pointer to go ahead 64-62 with 4:25 remaining.

With the Hornets ahead 69-65, George hit a clutch trey with :50.5 left on the clock to get NSU within a point away.

After a NSU timeout, Emporia would launch failed three point attempt with 26 seconds remaining, but they would pick up a critical offensive rebound forcing the RiverHawks to foul.  The Hornets would then ice the game at the free-throw line.

The tournament appearance is the fifth for the RiverHawks as a member of the MIAA and first under head coach Mark Downey.

NSU who was picked to finish last in the MIAA Preseason Media Poll, will see their season end with a 14-15 record, and tied for eighth place in the final conference standings.

TIP-INS
14th game this season that NSU has scored at least ten unanswered points … NSU's 16 point lead in the first half was tied for longest against a MIAA program this season … final appearance for four-year letter winner Tanner Mouse who will see his career end with 911 points ... Smith finished his junior season with 485 points ... third straight loss to Emporia State.