Men’s basketball surges past Emporia State in home finale Wednesday

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (GOGRIFFONS.COM)  – Griffon Men's Basketball (19-10, 11-7 MIAA) secured a 92-78 win over Emporia State (9-18, 5-13 MIAA) on Wednesday night in its home finale at MWSU Fieldhouse in St. Joseph.

MoWest, who has its most wins in a single season since 2003, found itself down 48-37 with 2:49 to go in the first half, but the Griffons went on an 11-2 run to close the gap, trailing ESU 50-48 at the break.

The second half belonged to MoWest, as Marko Pavlovic hit a jump shot with 13:42 remaining to put the Griffons ahead 62-61, and they never looked back.

A Ty Henry layup then put the Griffs up double figures at 78-67 with 8:24 to go. In total, MoWest outscored ESU in the second half 44-28, as the Griffons limited the Hornets to just 8-of-27 (29.6%) from the field in the last 20 minutes.

All five MoWest starters finished in double figures, led by Henry's 20-point effort. He shot 9-of-12 from the field. William Kiburis, who had missed the previous four games with an ankle injury, came back strong with 15 points on 6-of-7 shooting to go with five rebounds.

Pavlovic added 14 points on 6-of-8 shooting with a career-best six assists and six boards. Gavin Hershberger contributed 13 points on 3-of-3 shooting from long range. Noah King flirted with a triple double with 11 points, nine boards and seven assists.

MoWest shot 32-of-58 (55.2%) from the field, including 11-of-20 (55%) from three. The Griffs doled out 20 assists to just six turnovers.

MoWest ends its regular season this Saturday at Newman. Tip-off from Fugate Gymnasium in Wichita, Kansas is set for 3:30 p.m. The game will be broadcast on the Griffon Sports Network (Varsity Network App, GoGriffons.com/listen) and available to stream on the MIAA Network.