WICHITA - The Newman men's basketball team improved to 2-0 Wednesday night with a 77-50 win over KCAC foe Bethel College in front of 244 fans inside Fugate Gymnasium. Chip Steven's 16 points led the Jets in the team's second win of the regular season.

Newman (2-0) couldn't find a way to shake Bethel (1-3) in the first half. The Jets jumped out to an early 5-2 lead, but the Threshers responded with seven straight points to take a 9-5 lead by the 15:32 mark. Bethel held the lead for the next four minutes when a Tyler Nordman three-pointer gave Newman a 12-11 edge. The Jets took the lead for good two minutes later when another trey, this time from Keaton Schultz, gave the hosts an 18-17 edge with 9:48 to play. Newman went on to score the next 10 points of the game, earning a 28-17 lead by the 5:33 mark, but Bethel ended the half on a 5-1 run to cut the Newman lead to seven, 29-22, by the halftime intermission.

The Jets turned on the afterburners in the second half, starting the period on a 10-1 run to take a 16-point, 39-23 lead just two minutes into the half. Three minuets later, Newman had extended its lead to 20, 45-25 as part of a 16-3 run. Bethel tried to get back into the game, drawing to within 15, 57-42, with eight minutes to play, but Newman countered with the knock-out blow, a 16-2 run over the next six minutes to take their largest lead of the night, 73-44, and put the game on ice. Head Coach Mark Potter cleared his bench for the final three minutes of the game as the Jets cruised to the 77-50 win.

Chip Steven's 16 points led all scorers in the game, while Keaton Schultz added 12 points and Jake Darby finished with 11. Jaray Mathews' five rebounds was a team-high for the Jets.

Bethel was led offensively by Brody Grove who finished with 12 points, while Justin Schneider added 11 points for the Threshers.

As a team, Newman converted 30 of 59 attempts (50.8 percent) from the field, and drained 11 long balls, but the Jets free throw struggles continued. Newman hit just six of its 13 attempts from the charity stripe.

Newman will get its first NCAA Div. II test Saturday night, when the Midwestern State Mustangs pay a visit to Fugate Gymnasium for homecoming. Tip-off is slated for 7 p.m.