WICHITA - Newman started the second half of Heartland Conference play with an 80-71 win over St. Mary's Thursday night inside Fugate Gymnasium. After going nine-for-10 from long range in the Jets' last game, Keaton Schultz went nine-for-10 from the free throw line on his way to a game-high 17 points as the Jets won their seventh-straight game.

Newman (15-4, 8-1 Heartland) led the nearly entire way in Thursday night's contest. Justin Berry buried a jumper just eight seconds into the game to spot the Jets an early 2-0 advantage. St. Mary's (10-9, 5-4 Heartland) achieved its only lead of the night when Curtis Mitchell drained a three-pointer on the following possession, but Newman answered back with an 8-2 spurt thanks to a jumper and a long ball by Chip Steven, and a little help from the Rattlers, who missed three-straight three-point attempts. Try as they may, the Jets could never find a way to push their lead to more than seven points for the remainder of the half. St. Mary's did their best to close the gap drawing to with two, 38-36, when Mitchell converted on two free throws, but a buzzer beating long ball by Chip Steven sent the Jets into the locker room with a five-point cushion, 41-36.

The two teams picked up where they left off in the second half. Darren Lee gave the Rattlers their first points of the second half when he cleaned up after Gordon Ward's missed lay-up attempt, but Berry was on the scene once again for the Jets with a lay-up on the ensuing possession. Again, the Jets pushed their lead out to seven, 49-42, on a Jaray Mathews lay-up with 16:18 to play, but couldn't stretch it further until the 11:05 mark. That's when Jordan Honore' hit two free throws to give the hosts a nine-point, 60-51 lead. That didn't sit well with the Rattlers, who posted an 8-2 run of their own to draw within three, 62-59, at the 6:53 mark, but Newman countered with another 8-2 run to push the lead back to nine, 70-61, with 4:44 to play. The Jets finally achieved a double-digit lead at the 3:29 mark when Will Burdette buried two free throws and gave his team a 74-64 lead, and it was a matter of finishing the game from there as Newman went on to the 80-71 victory; their seventh-consecutive win.

Keaton Schultz once again led the Jets, this time posting a team-high 17 points and adding three rebounds and three blocks. Four other Jets finished with double-figure scoring totals. Chip Steven dumped in 14 points. Jaray Mathews was right on his heels with 13 points and eight rebounds, while Will Burdette and Justin Berry finished with 12 and 11 points, respectively.

Curtis Mitchell led the Rattlers with 28 points, while Brad Hubenak was the game's high rebounder, grabbing 11 points in a losing effort.

With the win, the Jets improve to 15-4 on the season, and 8-1 in Heartland Conference play. They remain alone atop the Heartland Conference standings, and will take on their closest contender, Incarnate Word, Saturday afternoon in a 4:30 contest inside Fugate Gymnasium. Saturday is also the first-ever "Blue Out Fugate" event is slated for 2 p.m. Admission to the game is free with two cans of food to be donated to Newman's Help 4 Haiti campaign.