Box Score WICHITA – James Stukes of St. Edward's hit a buzzer-beating game-winning layup to push the Hilltoppers to an 84-82 win over the Newman men's basketball team on Thursday (Feb. 6) at Fugate Gymnasium. The Jets dropped to 7-14 and 4-9 in the Heartland Conference. SEU improved to 9-11 and 5-7 in the Heartland Conference.
 
With the score tied at 82-82 with 11 seconds remaining, the visiting Hilltoppers called timeout to set up their final possession. Ramir Burton missed a jumper with 2 seconds left, but Stukes grabbed the offense rebound and got the layup off before the final buzzer.
 
The Jets took their largest lead of the second half on a three-point play from Marquis Cuyler with 3:53 to put NU up 76-73.
 
After two SEU free throws at the 3:22 mark, Ryan McCarthy hit a tough jumper, his only points of the game, to push the NU advantage back to three at 78-75 with 3:02 remaining.
 
Jeremy Espinoza made two free throws with 1:28 for an 80-77 lead. Stukes erased the deficit with a three-point play at 1:20 remaining to tie the score at 80-80.
 
The Jets went up by two, 82-80, with a Perryonte Smith layup with 59 seconds left. After a timeout, the Hilltoppers knotted the score at 82-82 on a Harley Nussman basket.
 
Cuyler had an opportunity to put the Jets in front with 17 seconds remaining, but his layup missed and SEU grabbed the rebound.
 
After a close first half that ended with the Hilltoppers leading 36-34, SEU opened up a 12-point advantage at 58-46 with 10:59 remaining in the game.
 
The Jets used a 19-6 run over the next 3:08 to take a 65-64 lead at the 7:51 mark. Jeremy Espinoza scored the first five points, and then McCarthy and Cuyler hit back-to-back baskets to cut the deficit to 60-54. Landers Riddle and Richard Waldron hit 3s to make it 64-60, and Espinoza scored five more points to give NU the lead. In total, Espinoza scored 10 points during the run.
 
Cuyler and Espinoza led the Jets with 21 points each. Espinoza added four steals, a game high. Elhad Emerllahu pulled down eight rebounds. Lander Riddle dished out a game-high five assists.
 
Ramir Burton of SEU scored a game-high 24 points, but turned the ball over 10 times. Stukes totaled a double-double of 22 points and 11 rebounds.
 
The Jets welcome McMurry to Fugate Gymnasium on Saturday (Feb. 8) at 3 p.m.