WICHITA - The Newman men's basketball team overcame two double-digit second-half deficits and rallied for their third-straight win with an 80-77 victory over league-leading Texas A&M International Dustdevils Saturday afternoon inside Fugate Gymnasium. William Burdette led all scorers with 19 points in the senior night win.

Perhaps it was the emotion from the pre-game recognition of seven Newman seniors, but the first half of play was one that the Jets would rather forget. Texas A&M International (15-8, 7-3 Heartland) forced Newman (13-9, 5-3 Heartland) to play from behind nearly from the start. The Dustdevils jumped to a 12-7 lead at the 16-minute mark, then increased that lead to 23-12 by the midway point of the first period. TAMIU added insult to injury with a 16-2 run that gave the visitors a 23-point, 39-16 lead with 5:55 left on the first-half clock. The Dustdevils led by as many as 24 late in the first half before Newman narrowed the gap to 18, 47-29, by the halftime break.

Simply put, things changed in the second half. Newman came out on a mission, and needed just four minutes to cut the TAMIU lead to single-digits, which happened with William Burdette buried a trey at the 16:07 to cut TAMIU's lead to eight, 44-52. Three minutes later, a Tommy Brumbelow lay-up narrowed the margin to three, 54-51, with 13:20 to play. Two minutes later Mason Felter followed a free throw with a short-range jumper that completed Newman's come-back efforts, and tied the game at 54-54, bringing all 500 fans inside Newman's Fugate Gymnasium to their feet. But that's where the wheels seemed to stop turning for the Jets. A Scottie Payne lay-up on TAMIU's next possession sparked a 17-7 Dustdevil run that gave the black-clad visitors a 71-61 lead with 4:56 to play, but Newman was up to the challenge. Three free throws by Chip Steven sparked a 12-2 Newman run, capped by a Keaton Schultz trey that tied the game at 73-73 with 1:20 still to play. A Burdette jumper in the final 35 seconds gave Newman a 75-73 edge, and took the wind out of the Dustdevils' sails. A James Silvie free throw with 14 seconds left brought TAMIU back to within one, 76-75, but that's as close as TAMIU could get, as Newman snuck away with the 80-77 win.

Newman's seniors led the way in the contest. Senior William Burdette led all scorers with 19 points, and added a team-high five rebounds, while fellow senior Chip Steven used an 11-for-11 outing from the charity stripe to post 16 points in the contest. Fellow seniors Keaton Schultz and Tyler Nordman rounded out Newman's double-digit scorers. Schultz finished with 11 points, while Nordman added 10.

Evan Matteson led the Dustdevils with 14 points in the contest.

With the win, Newman improves to 13-9 on the season, and 5-3 in Heartland Conference play. They will return to action Monday, hosting St. Mary's in a 6 p.m. contest.