STEPHENVILLE, Texas - Newman posted a split against two of the best teams the Lone Star Conference has to offer this weekend at the Texan Tipoff Classic, which concluded Saturday in Stephenville, Texas. The Jets knocked off Angelo State in a 77-69 decision Friday night, but dropped an 83-54 contest to undefeated Tarleton State Saturday evening.

Newman 77, Angelo State 69
Keaton Shultz shot three-for-five from beyond the arc, and hit all five of his free throws as the Jets downed the Angelo State Rams in its tournament opener Friday evening. Schultz was one of three Jets to finish with double figures.

Eric Saunders scored the first seven points of the game, and helped Newman to a 9-2 lead over the first five minutes of Friday's contest. The Rams countered with a 4-0 spurt, and snuck back to within three, 9-6, less than a minute later, but the Jets scored the next six points to push their lead back to eight, 14-6, with 12:46 still to play. Less than three minutes later, Angelo State had crawled back to within one, 16-15, but that's as close as the Rams could get. A Chip Steven three-pointer with just over two minutes to play in the first half pushed Newman's lead to nine, 41-32, with 2:11 to play. Angelo State answered with a 7-2 run to end the half, but Newman still held a 43-39 lead at the break.

It took less than five minutes for the Rams to erase Newman's lead in the second half. A Ridge McKeither lay-up at the 15:45 mark tied the game a 45-45, but an old-fashion three-point play by William Burdette on the ensuing possession returned the lead to Newman. Angelo State took its first lead of the game at the 12:57 mark when LaMarshall Corbett drained a trey, but Newman responded once again, this time using a 9-2 run capped by a Tyler Nordman trey that gave Newman a 60-52 lead with 7:42 to play. The Jets claimed their first 10-point lead at the 4:43 mark with an and-one conversion from Keaton Schultz that gave Newman a 69-59 lead. The Jets led by as many as 12, 75-63, late in the second half, then held on for the 77-69 win.

Keaton Schultz led the Jets with 16 points and seven rebounds, while William Burdette was right behind with 15 points. Eric Saunders was Newman's only double-digit scorer, adding 11 points.

Tarleton State 83, Newman 54
A deep Tarleton bench caused all sorts of issues for Newman, as the Jets dropped an 83-54 decision to the hosting Tarleton Texans Saturday evening in the final game of the Texan Tip-off Classic. Chip Steven's 11 points led Newman in the loss.

The two teams exchanged backets through the first 10 minutes of the game, before a Tyler Nordman three-pointer gave Newman a 16-12 lead at the 10:00 mark. Unphased, the Texans countered with a 12-2 run, and took a 24-17 lead less than three minutes later. Tarleton wasn't done then. From that point, the Texans used a 7-2 run to take a 12-point, 31-19 lead with 4:10 to play. By the end of the first half, Newman found itself facing a 16-point, 45-29 deficit.

It took less than three minutes for Tarleton to earn its first 20-point lead of the contest, and it wasn't pretty for Newman from that point forward. The Texans led by as many as 31 on several occasions late in the second half, sending Newman home with an 83-54 loss.

Chip Steven shot three-for-four from beyond the arc, and added two free throws for an 11-point outing to lead the Jets. Eric Saunders was right behind with 10 points as Newman's only other double-digit scorer. William Burdette, Justin Berry, Tyler Nordman, and Mason Felter joined Saunders with a team-high four rebounds.

The loss drops Newman's record to 2-3 on the season. They will return to Wichita to play host to Fort Hays State Tuesday evening. Tip-off at Newman's Fugate Gymnasium is slated for 7:30 p.m.