EMPORIA, Kan. – Midwestern State's hot hand in the first half and a career-best effort from Chris Davis were not enough to stave off No. 23 Emporia State Saturday night at W.L. White Auditorium as the Hornets came away with an 85-83 victory.

"Our intensity wasn't there in the second half," MSU coach Jeff Ray said. "Our defense was to give up layups and foul. We're not tough enough to finish basketball games right now. That's our problem."

Davis, a 6-3 senior guard from Terrell, Texas, poured in a career-high 33 points including a 5-of-8 effort from 3-point range.

His effort allowed the Mustangs to surge to a 38-26 lead with 2:34 remaining in the opening half as MSU would carry a 41-33 advantage into the intermission.

But Emporia State's DeAndre Townsend scored nine of his team-high 22 points in a 16-2 spurt that saw the Hornets turned a 49-38 deficit 2:37 into the second half into a 56-51 lead with 14:02 remaining.

Emporia State would push the advantage to 11 when Townsend converted a Marvin Lee steal for a layup at the end of a 6-0 run to give the Hornets a 67-56 lead with 10:55 to play.

The Mustangs clawed to within a point after Davis canned a pair of free throws to pull MSU to within 84-83 with 36 seconds remaining.

Davis, who scored MSU last six points, would foul out with 18.2 seconds left.

Townsend hit one of his two charity tosses, but the Mustangs were unable to get any closer.

Junior forward Trajinski Grigsby joined Davis in double figures with 17 points and added 12 rebounds, while sophomore forward Michael Godwin added nine points.

"We made some runs," Ray said. "We're just not getting tough right now. I love our kids and I love our team, but until we get tough, we're going to be disappointed."

Midwestern State, which dropped to 1-3 on the season, returns to D.L. Ligon Coliseum Thursday in a Lone Star Conference crossover doubleheader against Southwestern Oklahoma State.

The women tip off at 6 p.m. with the men following 20 minutes later or at approximately 8 p.m.

Emporia State improved to 3-0.