WICHITA – The Newman men's basketball team used a second half surge to pull away from Washburn for a 90-79 victory on Thursday (Nov. 20) at Fugate Gymnasium. The Jets moved to 2-0 and defeated the Ichabods for the second straight time in Fugate Gymnasium. Washburn dropped to 2-3 on the season.
With the Jets holding a slight one point lead at 50-49 with 13:46 remaining in the game, NU went on a 14-4 run to take a 64-53 advantage.
Jeremy Espinoza capped the run with a 3-pointer at the 9:46 mark for the 11-point lead. Espinoza also started the run with a 3, and he followed it with a layup for 55-50 edge with 12:27 remaining.
Kevin Sexton upped the advantage to eight points at 58-50 with a 3-pointer at the 11:34 mark. After a WU basket,
Kramer Ammons got in on the scoring from deep, hitting a 3-pointer at 11:02 for a 61-52 score. Espinoza finished the run with another 3 for the 64-52 lead.
The Jets led by 13, NU's largest lead of the game, after a
Cortrael Colbert layup made it 68-55 with 8:22 left.
The Ichabods cut the deficit to four points at 75-71 with 3:19 remaining after a layup. NU went on an 8-0 run during the next 2:05 to pull away at 83-71. Espinoza started the run with two free throws, and
James Pegues and Baker made back-to-back layups for the 81-71 score. With 1:14 left, Sexton hit two free throws for the 83-71 advantage. The Jets made free throws during the final minute for the 90-79 win.
In the first half, the Ichabods went in front 23-14 with 12:40 left in the half. However, NU responded with a 16-2 spurt to go up 30-25. Baker scored eight points during the run, including back-to-back treys, to put NU back in front. The Jets were up 40-36 at halftime.
Baker, a junior from Avon Park, Fla., scored a game-high 30 points on 11-of-20 shooting, including 4-for-8 shooting from 3. Baker was a perfect 4-for-4 from the free throw line. He added six rebounds. Senior
Jeremy Espinoza, who was an All-Heartland Conference selection as a junior, added 21 points, four assists, three rebounds and three steals.
Cortrael Colbert also hit double figures with 11 points and had a game-high seven assists.
The Jets finished shooting 46.3 percent (31-67) from the field and went 10-of-27 from 3 (37 percent).
Washburn was led by Korey Fisher with 14 points off the bench in only 17 minutes. A total of 12 Ichabods saw action in the game.
NU makes the short trip to Wichita State on Sunday (Nov. 23) to take on the Shockers at 2 p.m. at Charles Koch Arena. The game will be aired on Cox 22 and ESPN3. KGSO 1410 AM will carry the radio broadcast.
