WICHITA, Kan. — Four players scored in double figures, including Gavin Thurman with 24 and James Pegues with 16, as the Newman men's basketball team turned in a big second half for the second straight game to turn back St. Mary's 88-68 Thursday night.
KEY SEQUENCE
Trailing 43-38 at the half, the Jets (8-3, 1-2 Heartland) didn't take long to change momentum in the second half against the Rattlers (5-6, 1-2 Heartland). Thurman netted eight points and Pegues added eight more as the hosts shot out on an 18-2 run to open the period, going from down five to up by double digits in just over five minutes.
HOW IT HAPPENED
-Layups by Jarvis Williams and Pegues pushed the Jets out to a 4-0 lead quickly, and a 3-pointer out of Cortrael Colbert extended the lead to five at 7-2 just over two minutes in.
-The Rattlers went on an 8-0 run to go up by six over the next four minutes until just under the halfway point of the first half.
-There, Daniel Nwosu hit a 3-pointer to put the lead back in Newman's favor at 26-25 with 9:08 to play, and the lead changed hands four more times over the next three-plus minutes, and the Rattlers took a five-point lead into the locker room.
-The Jets shot out of intermission, with Thurman netting the first two baskets of the half to pull his team within one, and Pegues nailed a 3-pointer that put Newman in the lead for good.
-A layup for Schieber followed by a three-point play from Pegues pushed the lead to 50-43 and capped a 12-0 run to open the second half for the Jets.
-After a quick St. Mary's bucket, Pegues and Thurman hit back-to-back lay-ins, and a Thurman dunk on the end of a fastbreak started by Jalen Love bumped the lead into double digits at 56-45. Another bucket from Thurman at the 13:43 mark made it 58-47, and the Jets led by double figures the rest of the way.
NOTES
-Thurman netted 20 points for the fourth time in the past five games, as the senior shot 11-of-17 from the field to bump his season average to 16.5 points per game.
-As a team, the Jets shot 56.1 percent from the floor, their best mark of the season. That included a 58.1-percent mark in the second half to build the lead.
-Thurman added eight rebounds, as did Kevin Bryant, who also added his only two points on a thunderous dunk in the second half.
-Williams scored 13 points and added two assists, while Daniel Nwosu chipped in 17 points, with 11 coming in the second half, and seven rebounds.
WHAT'S NEXT
The Jets are back home at Fugate Gymnasium for their fourth conference game of the season Saturday, hosting Texas A&M International at 3 p.m.
