LUBBOCK, Texas – A 12-point halftime deficit was too much for the Newman men's basketball team to overcome as the Jets fell, 79-67, at Lubbock Christian on Saturday (Feb. 7) at the Rip Griffin Center. NU dropped to 11-9 and 7-7 in the Heartland Conference. LCU leads the conference with a 10-4 and are 13-8 overall.
 
With the Chaps up by four at 24-20 with 6:28 remaining in the half, LCU went on a quick 8-0 run to gain a 12-point 32-20 advantage with 4:58 left. The Chaps hit back-to-back 3s during the spurt.
 
LCU continued to hold the margin, and the Chaps were up, 42-30, after the first half.
 
In the second half, the Jets couldn't cut the deficit to less than 10 points, and the Chaps went up by as much as 22 points. The margin was 74-52 with 5 minutes remaining. The Jets ended the game on a 15-5 run, but ran out of time in the 79-67 loss.
 
Jeremy Espinoza scored a team-high 16 points, but fouled out of the game, playing only 28 minutes. The senior forward shot 5-of-9 from the field, but 0-for-3 from 3. Espinoza pulled down a team-high five rebounds. Reggie Baker added 14 points. James Pegues tallied 12 points, and Cortrael Colbert finished with 10 points and four steals.
 
The Jets finished shooting 39 percent (23-59) from the field, including 36.3 percent (12-33) in the first half. NU hit only three 3s all game, totaling 15.8 percent on 3-of-19 shooting.
 
LCU shot 55.3 percent (26-47) from the field and 42.9 percent (6-14) from 3. Beau Durham came off the bench and totaled a double-double of 17 points and 10 rebounds. Marcos Schuster scored a game-high 23 points with three 3s. He went 8-of-10 from the free throw line.
 
The Jets return home for one game on Thursday (Feb. 12) to take on rival Oklahoma Christian. Tip is set for 7:30 p.m. inside Fugate Gymnasium. Live stats, video and audio are all available for the game.