WICHITA, Kan. — Taylor Schieber poured in 19 points, five rebounds and four steals, as the Newman men's basketball team saw five players reach double-digit points and the team shoot 45.1 percent from the field in a 98-59 victory over Manhattan Christian Wednesday night at Fugate Gymnasium.
Schieber, a junior, was 7-of-10 from the floor, including 5-of-8 from 3-point range to lead the Jets (5-1). He was one of three players to lead the team with five boards, while three others recorded four, and shared the game-high with senior Cortrael Colbert with his four steals. Colbert netted 10 points, senior James Pegues was 4-of-5 from the field for 15 points and juniors Travis Matthews and Daniel Nwosu each scored 13 as the Jets scored in the 90s for a third time in their past four contests.
Pegues scored 12 of his 15 points in the first half, when the hosts shot out to an early lead. He hit a 3-pointer then a layup early to help lift Newman to the first seven points of the game in just over a minute of play, and kickstarted a 13-0 sprint after the Thunder (4-5) managed to pull within two. The span covered 2:20 and saw the Jets go a perfect 5-of-5 from the field to turn a close game into a 20-5 lead.
Schieber hit a pair of layups — both on feeds from Jalen Love, who posted a game-high four helpers — later in the half to keep the lead in double digits, and a Gavin Thurman trey pushed the advantage to 16 just over halfway through the opening frame. The guests closed the gap to as close as 12 at 38-26 with 4:43 left in the first, but a 10-3 run from there stretched the lead once again, and buckets from Pegues and Love at the end gave the Jets a 52-33 lead at the break.
After MCC scored eight of the first 10 points of the second half, the Newman lead ballooned in the final 17 minutes. From a 13-point lead at 54-41 just under three minutes after intermission, the Jets outscored the Thunder 44-18. Schieber started the rally with back-to-back 3-pointers to push the margin to 19, and a moment between baskets from Andrew Berry and Matthews in the next minute was the only other time the lead was under 20 the rest of the way.
A Matthews layup off a Nwosu steal pushed the lead to 30 with 5:08 to play, coming halfway through a 12-0 run by the Jets. Matthews dumped in seven of those points, with Nwosu adding four, and two more buckets from Matthews — who went 6-of-7 from the field in the second half after not attempting a shot before halftime — bumped it to 98-57 with under a minute to play.
Newman had 16 player see time on the court during the victory. Ten scored at least one point, with 14 hauling in at least one rebound. The Jets won the rebounding battle 48-46, outscored the Thunder in the paint 46-26, and scored 28 points off their 26 forced turnovers.
The Jets will take the weekend off before hosting Bethel Monday at 7 p.m. back at Fugate Gymnasium.
