PITTSBURG, Kan. - A first-half surge lifted the Pittsburg State Gorillas to a 95-68 win over the Newman men's basketball team Tuesday night at John Lance Arena in Pittsburg, Kan. Will Burdette's 19 points led all scorers in the game.

Newman (1-2) trailed from the outset in Tuesday's contest. Pittsburg State (1-0) opened the scoring with a Chris Ware jumper on the game's opening possession. The Jets answered with a three-pointer from Will Burdette to take a brief 3-2 lead with 18:37 still to play. The teams exchanged baskets for the next three minutes, and the Gorillas held a 10-7 advantage when the first media timeout was called at the 14:54 mark.

Pitt State used a 12-3 run out of the time-out to take a 22-10 lead, and forced Newman coach Mark Potter to call a timeout. The Gorillas steadily increased their lead, which threatened to increase to 20 points when Potter spent another timeout with his team trailing 42-23 with 3:42 to play in the opening frame. Newman out-scored the Gorillas 14-8 over the final three minutes of the first half, but still found itself facing a 50-36 halftime deficit.

The Jets opened the second half on a 6-2 run, and cut the PSU margin to 42-50 after a Keaton Schultz trey just 55 seconds into the half, but over the next five minutes the Gorillas pushed their lead back to 12, 58-46, with 14:19 remaining.

Fouls became an issue for both teams throughout the second half. With 12:13 to play, Newman found itself with three players with three-or-more fouls, while PSU had to manage four players with three fouls or more. Those fouls could have allowed the Jets to crawl back into the game, but Newman struggled to convert those fouls into free throw points. The Jets crawled back to within nine points on several occasions in the second half, but were unable to close the gap further, as the Gorillas ran away with the 95-68 win.

Will Burdette led all scorers in the game, finishing with 19 points while adding six rebounds. Keaton Schultz added 13 pionts, while Eric Saunders finished with 11 points as Newman's double-digit scorers.

JaVon McGee led the Gorillas with 16 points.

With the loss, the Jets drop to 1-2 on the season. They return to action Friday against nationally-ranked Angelo State in the first game of the Tarleton State Invitational. Tip-off is slated for 5 p.m. in Stephenville, Texas.