The 38-point win marks the largest margin of victory for Emporia in the series. Previously the largest win for the Hornets was 21 points (73-52) in 1993. The 105 points marks the second-most ever given up by Southern to the Hornets. ESU defeated Southern 114-101 in 1986.

Southern (6-9, 1-5 MIAA) scored the game's first basket on a dunk from Deonte Cox (St. Louis, Mo.) just 26 seconds into the first half. Both teams would jockey for the lead and the Lions re-took it at 17-16 after a three from Matt Habermehl (Independence, Mo.) with 9:51 left. Back-to-back threes from Tyler Ryerson (Willard, Mo.) cut the Emporia (15-0, 6-0 MIAA) lead to one at 26-25 with 5:16 left.

A three from Ed Miles (Dallas, Texas), his first of the year, tied the game at 29 and a dunk by Miles on the next possession gave the Lions a two-point lead (31-29) with 4:30 left. Emporia went up by five with a minute left in the half but layups from Stanley Titsworth (Muskogee, Okla) and Dale Hunter (Seneca, Mo.) cut the deficit to three (38-35) at the half.

Emporia's Watson sparked a 24-9 run to start the second half scoring 17 points in the first 5:12 of the half, putting the Hornets up 62-44 at the first media timeout. The lead ballooned to 34 (89-55) with six minutes remaining after back-to-back threes from Emporia.

Ryerson led the Lions in scoring with 15 points on 5-11 shooting from the field and 3-8 from long range. Titsworth finished with 14 points and Habermehl went 4-7 from the field for 11 points.

Watson finished with 33 points on 10-18 shooting and 7-12 from the three-point line. He was 6-6 from the free-throw line. Jordan Fithian scored 15 and had nine rebounds, while Andrew Davison scored 14 and Scott Elliott knocked in 10.

Emporia shot 54 percent from the field and 43 percent from long range, making 9-21 from behind the arc. The Lions were out rebounded 43-28.

Southern will be back in action this Saturday, January 20 playing host to Fort Hays State at 7:30 pm in Leggett & Platt Athletic Center.