LAREDO, Texas- The Newman men's basketball team lost its fourth-consecutive Heartland Conference road game in a 71-58 loss, Saturday afternoon in the Kinesiology Building on the campus of Texas A&M-International in Laredo, Texas. Shamar Acuay led the Jets with 17 points.

Newman (15-8, 7-4 Heartland) started the game on the wrong foot in Saturday's game. Brian Schaeffer scored four points in the first minute of play for Texas A&M-International (19-5, 9-2 Heartland) to give the Dustdevils a 4-0 lead. The Jets clawed back, as a Shamar Acuay lay-up paced a 7-0 run over the ensuing four minutes to give Newman a 7-4 lead with 15:36 left in the first half. An Acuay jumper extended the Jets' lead to 13-6 with 9:20 remaining in the period. Ian Salter converted a lay-up at the 9:10 mark, that ignited an 11-0 run that burned four minutes off of the clock, to give the Dustdevils a 17-13 lead with 5:30 on the clock. A pair of Kalub Long free-throws at the 4:27 mark ended the Newman drought, but TAMIU responded with four-straight points to take a 21-15 advantage with 3:50 left in the first half. Eric Saunders connected on a three-pointer with 2:35 on the clock to cut the Dustdevils' advantage to 23-20, but TAMIU extended the lead back to 28-22 following an Evan Matteson lay-up at the 1:17 mark. Acuay's lay-up with 1:09 remaining in the first-half proved to be the final basket of the period, as the Dustdevils took a 28-24 lead going into the locker rooms.

The Jets came out firing from the field when the second-half began, as an Eric Saunders jumper sparked an 8-1 run to give Newman a 34-29 lead with 17:34 left in regulation. TAMIU replied with a 5-0 spurt to re-gain a 35-34 edge with 14:27 remaining on the clock. The Jets took back the lead 21 seconds later on a Darrell Traylor jumper, but Newman would go cold from the field, being held scoreless for four minutes, as they saw the Dustdevils go on a 10-0 run to lead 45-36 with 10:27 left in the game. TAMIU extended its lead to 49-38, following an Evan Matteson dunk at the 8:33 mark. Another Acuay jumper at the 6:19 mark, pulled the Jets to within 51-44, but that was the closest Newman could get. James Silvie gave the Dustdevils' their biggest lead of the game at the 3:19 mark, 67-52, as the Jets were out-scored 21-10 over the final six minutes of the game en route to a 71-58 defeat.

Acuay was joined in double-figures by Eric Saunders and Darrell Traylor, scoring 12 and 10 points, respectively. As a team, the Jets shot 35.5 percent (22-62) from the field, and only connected on 13.3 percent (2-15) from three-point range. Newman out-rebounded the Dustdevils 39-35.

With the loss, the Jets drop to 15-8 on the season, and 7-4 in Heartland Conference play. Newman returns to the court on Feb. 16, when they return to Fugate Gymnasium to face St. Edward's in its first home game in 24 days.

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