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| Embers lives dream with game at Kansas |
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| Sports - Louisburg | |||
| Written by Andy Brown | |||
| Wednesday, 18 November 2009 08:00 | |||
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LAWRENCE — His team had just been beaten by 58 points, and he managed just two free throws in what normally would be a forgettable game. But this was no normal game. Jordan Embers emerged from the Pittsburg State locker room with a huge smile on his face. He had just lived his dream.  Embers, who is a 2008 Louisburg High School graduate, is starting his first season of college basketball with the Gorillas and he couldn’t have picked a better way to start. Embers and the Gorillas ventured into Allen Fieldhouse on Nov. 10 to play the No. 1 Kansas Jayhawks in an exhibition game. “I think this is probably every Kansas kids dream is to play at Allen Fieldhouse,” Embers said. “I know I have been looking forward to this moment since I was a little kid and finally I got the opportunity to do it. “It was fun. I always look forward to playing at Allen Fieldhouse and it was an amazing experience.” Many people wouldn’t call a 103-45 loss to the Jayhawks an amazing experience, but for Embers, the experience was surreal. The Pittsburg State redshirt freshman had been a Jayhawk fan his whole life and he wasn’t sure the time would ever come in which he would play in Allen Fieldhouse. As he walked onto the court with his Gorilla teammates before the start of the game, the butterflies were there for Embers, but he was also anxious to see how he and his team measured up against the country’s best. “I definitely had some pre-game jitters out there,” Embers said. “But once you are out there for awhile, they just kind of went away and just played the game. “(Kansas is) a great team with great players. It is good for us to be able to play against them at the beginning of the season and this helps gets us ready for teams we will be playing later in the year. But they won’t be as good as Kansas.” Embers entered the Gorilla program last season under coach Gene Iba and decided to redshirt to help get him more acclimated to the college game. Now, as a redshirt freshman, Embers is fighting for playing time on the wing. Although there are a few veterans on the team, Pitt State has added four transfers and four freshmen to the squad, which has made for a very young team. “We have a pretty young team, but there are some older guys on this team that some of the younger guys really look up to and learn some stuff from,” Embers said. “Hopefully we can all get on the same page as the season goes on.” “Hopefully I can just get in there, take shots when I am open and knock them down. I just want to do whatever the coach wants me to do. We are still building our team right now, especially on how we are going to look the rest of the season, so we will see what happens.”  With the redshirt season, Embers hadn’t played in a basketball for almost a year-and-half, so the exhibition season has been a blessing for him. Not only has he played against the Jayhawks, but two days before his Gorillas traveled to Kansas State, where he scored six points on a two 3-pointers in an 89-53 loss. On Friday, Pitt State traveled to the University of Nevada-Las Vegas to play the Runnin’ Rebels and fell 91-52. So, needless to say it has been a busy start to Embers’ basketball career. “K-State is a good team too and they will be right up there in the Big 12,” he said. “Playing these good teams allows us to go up against good competition and it definitely shows us where we are at now.” Although Embers managed just two points against the Jayhawks, there were other plays he will remember. Whether it was his steal against Kansas guard Sherron Collins, his two rebounds or just being able to walk on to the Allen Fieldhouse floor in front of his family, it was an experience he couldn’t put into words — but he tried. “This is something I will remember for the rest of my life,” he said.
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