Little’s Three-Pointer Lifts WT to 70-67 Win over Emporia State

Buffs overcome 12-point deficit to take season-opening victory

CANYON, Texas – Rod Little’s three-pointer with five seconds remaining in regulation lifted the West Texas A&M Buffaloes to a 70-67, come-from-behind victory over Emporia State, Friday afternoon at Bartlesville Field House in Bartlesville, Okla.  The game, the first of the South Central Region Shootout at Bartlesville, was the season-opener for both teams.

“This is a very good win for us,” said WT head coach Rick Cooper. “It was typical November basketball, with both teams making quite a few mistakes.  But, we toughed it out and picked up the win.”

Little finished the game with a game-high 19 points, hitting 13 of his tallies in the second half.  The Moss Point, Miss., native went five-of-six from the field in the second half.  For the game, he canned five-of seven shots from beyond the three-point arc.

Emporia State led by five points, 34-29, at the half and built a 12 point advantage, 47-35, with 14:25 to play in the second half.  From that point, the Buffs outscored the Hornets by a 35-20 margin.

Trailing, 55-46, with 10:24 to play, the Buffs went on a 9-0 run to take their first lead since the midway point of the first half.  Joe Mincey (Sr-1L, Brunswick, Ga.), who finished the game with eight points, started the run with a pair of free throws.  The Buffs defense sparked the run with a pair of steals.  Senior LaDarius Hall (Sr-1L, Thomasville, Ga.) stole the ball from ESU’s Christian Jackson which led to an Alex Davis (Sr-1L, Milwaukee, Wisc.) layup, making the score 55-50 in favor of the Hornets.

Just over a minute later, Jackson committed another turnover.  This time, WT’s Courtney Car (Jr-TR, Selma, Ala.) came up with the ball, feeding Hall for a layup to pull the Buffs to within one point at 55-54 with 7:57 to play in regulation.

Hall was fouled on the play and made the ensuing free throw to tie the score, 55-55.

After Davis blocked a shot by ESU’ Adam Holthaus, Mincey proceeded to hit a short jumper to put the Buffs on top, 57-55.

The Buffaloes would go on to build a five point lead, 66-61, with 3:08 to play, only to go scoreless over the next 2:01 as the Hornets pulled within one point.  A Holthaus layup with 49 seconds remaining tied the score, 67-67, and set up Little’s game-winning heroics.

In addition to Little’s 19 points, Mincey finished with 12 points and Davis contributed 10.  WT Junior Lionel Foster had a game high five assists.

ESU was paced by Holthaus and Robert Moores, who each had 18 points.

WT outrebounded the Hornets, 41-33, while also shooting 68 percent from the field.  ESU shot 59 percent from the floor.  ESU committed nine turnovers for the game, while WT turned the ball over eight times.

The Buffaloes’ next outing will be against Newman, Saturday, Nov. 13, at 1 p.m. CST.