GOODWELL, Okla. – Junior point guard Cortrael Colbert scored a career and game high 31 points to push the Newman men's basketball team to a 91-77 victory at Oklahoma Panhandle State on Thursday (Feb. 5). With the victory, the Jets have won three straight games, moving to 11-8 and 7-6 in the Heartland Conference. The win puts NU one win back from being in the top four of the conference standings.
 
In a game where the Jets never trailed, NU started with a 17-8 run in the first 5 minutes, hitting three 3-pointers during the stretch. Colbert started the game with a triple, and Jeremy Espinoza made it two straight 3s for a 6-3 NU advantage. Ryan McCarthy got in on the scoring with a jumper at 17:22 for an 8-4 lead, and Reggie Baker hit the Jets' third 3 at the 16:46 mark for an 11-6 edge. Four straight James Pegues points made it 15-8. Colbert capped the run with a layup with 14:40 remaining in the half for a 17-8 score.
 
The Aggies did not go away, quickly cutting the deficit to only one point at 17-16 with 11:48 left in the half. OPSU hit two 3s and a layup for the 8-0 run.
 
The Jets responded scoring the next six points, all coming from seniors Espinoza and McCarthy. The NU lead was seven at 23-16 with 10:50 remaining in the half.
 
The NU advantage grew to as large as 11 points in the first half. With the Jets still up by seven at 33-26, Baker scored consecutive layups for a 37-26 lead at the 5:16 mark.
 
With the lead still at 11 after a Colbert layup made it 43-32 with 3:31 left, the home Aggies went on a 9-0 run to cut the NU lead to two at 43-41 with only 46 seconds left in the half. Colbert ended the half with the Jets' last four points, and NU led by four, 47-43, after the first half.
 
In the second half, the Jets seemed to be in control pushing the edge to eight points at 61-53 with 12:55 remaining on a Colbert free throw. The Aggies responded with a 10-2 run to tie the game for the first time since the early part of the first half. An Aggie 3-pointer knotted the score at 63-63 with 10:07 left.
 
The Jets scored six straight points to regain control of the game. Pegues scored four of the points, and Colbert added a basket.
 
After the lead was cut to four at 71-67 with 6 minutes remaining, the Jets used a 17-5 run over 5 minutes to put the game away. Colbert scored six straight points to start the run for a 77-67 score with 5:04 remaining. With the lead still 10 at 82-72 with 1:42 left, the Jets gained their largest lead of the game at 88-72 with six straight free throws. The Jets went on to win by 14 at 91-77.
 
Colbert shot 9-of-17 from the field and 1-for-3 from 3-point distance. He did a ton of damage at the free throw line, going 12-of-16 from the line. He added five rebounds, four steals and three assists. James Pegues, a junior forward, totaled a double-double of 18 points and 11 rebounds. He did most of his scoring from the free throw line, hitting 12-of-14 free throws. Jeremy Espinoza scored 15 points, and Reggie Baker had 12 points.
 
NU shot 45.6 percent (26-57) from the field, but only 4-of-19 (21.1 percent) from 3. The Jets shot 49 free throws, going 35-of-49 from the line.
 
The Aggies finished shooting 41.4 percent (24-58), hitting 10-of-25 3s for 40 percent. OPSU shot 29 free throws, but shot only 65.5 percent (19-29) from the free throw line.
 
OPSU's Antonio Manns, Jr. scored an Aggie team-high 21 points and pulled down 16 rebounds for a double-double.
 
The Jets look to continue to gain ground in the Heartland Conference standings on Saturday (Feb. 7) at Lubbock Christian in Lubbock, Texas. Tip-off is set for 3 p.m.