DALLAS — Jarvis Williams pocketed a team-high 21 points, with James Pegues adding 15 and four rebounds, but the Newman men's basketball team couldn't overcome a slump from deep and clutch free-throw shooting by Dallas Baptist in an 84-76 loss in Heartland Conference action Monday night.
KEY SEQUENCE
Down just 61-58 after a Pegues layup with just over six minutes to play, The Jets (11-5, 4-4 Heartland) went cold from the floor, missing their next five shots as the Patriots (12-4, 6-2 Heartland) went on a 14-3 run to make it 75-61 and effectively put the game away.
HOW IT HAPPENED
-Down 4-2 early, a 3-pointer from Pegues, a senior, gave the Jets their first lead of the game. The Patriots went up again at 6-5, 11-10 and finally 13-12 with 13:53 on the clock before junior Daniel Nwosu hit back-to-back 3-pointers to key a 12-4 run and put the Jets up 18-13.
-A Pegues layup made put Newman up seven at 20-13 with 11:32 left, and Williams, a junior, pushed it back out to seven with a lay-in at the 11-minute mark. DBU rallied for seven straight to tie it up at 22-all in less than a minute.
-The Jets jumped out on an 8-1 run from that point, getting a Nwosu layup, two free throws from senior Jalen Love and back-to-back jumpers out of senior Gavin Thurman to make it 30-23 with just under eight minutes to go in the opening half before the Patriots got hot to take the lead over the next few minutes.
-Williams' layup in the final minutes of the half pulled Newman back to within two points at 38-36, but DBU managed the final five points of the period to take a seven-point lead into the locker room.
-The Patriots hit a free throw for the first point coming out of intermission to make it 44-36, but from that point, the Jets netted the next six points, holding the hosts to 0-for-8 shooting from the floor to start the second half while Pegues poured in four points and senior Cortrael Colbert got a second-chance bucket off an Easton Julian offensive board to make it 44-44.
-A Pegues jumper with 12:32 left to play gave the Jets a 49-48 lead, their first lead in nearly 12 minutes, but the advantage lasted just a minute, as the Patriots went on a 7-0 run to go up by six and held the lead the rest of the way.
-Williams hit four straight from deep in the final two minutes to keep the Jets in it, but DBU sank 16 consecutive free throws to take away any chance at a comeback.
NOTES
-Williams was 8-of-14 from the field, including 5-of-10 from 3-point range for his third straight game of shooting 50 percent from deep, to net his 21 points, which was one off of his season high. That leaves the junior shooting exactly 50.0 percent from the floor (26-of-52) over his past six games.
-Nwosu picked up 14 points, with 12 coming on 4-of-5 shooting in the first half. Pegues went for 10 of his 15 points after intermission, with his 12 field goal attempts for the night setting a new season high for the senior.
-In all, the Jets put forth a solid showing against a DBU team that had put up excellent numbers in some categories. Newman halved the Patriots' 16.1 scoring margin and held them 7.2 point below their season average, both numbers which led the conference and were top-10 in the country. The Jets also shot better from deep (33.3 percent to 29.6), something that has only happened two other times this season.
-The Patriots hit just two of their first nine free throws of the game over the first 33-plus minutes, but turned that percentage around in a big way, hitting 16 straight before missing the final one of the night to end the game 20-of-26 from the line.
WHAT'S NEXT
The Jets continue their busy week with a 7:30 p.m. tipoff against Rogers State Thursday back home at Fugate Gymnasium.
