WICHITA, Kan. — Continuing its rugged stretch against the top four teams in the Heartland Conference, the Newman men's basketball team comes home to Fugate Gymnasium Thursday to face off against Rogers State in a 7:30 p.m. tip.

SCOUTING NEWMAN

The Jets (11-5, 4-4 Heartland) saw a conference win streak halted at two for the second time this season when they fell 84-76 on the road at Dallas Baptist Monday. That game started a stretch of three games in six days against teams in the top four of the conference standings. Jarvis Williams went for 21 points against the Patriots, keeping his hot shooting hand intact despite the loss. James Pegues added 15 points, four rebounds and two assists, while Daniel Nwosu went for 14 points and two steals.

                LEADERS

                Gavin Thurman, Senior-16.4 ppg, 6.3 rpg, 1.7 apg, 49.0 FG%, 40.3 3FG%

                James Pegues, Senior-14.2 ppg, 4.8 rpg, 62.6 FG%, 83.5 FT%, 42.9 3FG%

                Jarvis Williams, Junior-11.7 ppg, 2.5 rpg, 2.5 apg, 45.9 FG%

                Jalen Love, Senior-9.9 ppg, 2.9 apg, 2.8 rpg, 1.0 spg

                Cortrael Colbert, Senior-8.8 ppg, 2.6 rpg, 2.2 apg, 1.8 spg

SCOUTING THE OPPONENT

The Hillcats (13-3, 5-3 Heartland) seem to be getting their legs back under them after seeing their 11-game winning streak to start the season. RSU won all eight nonconference games and its first three Heartland Conference games to end 2015 with a perfect record, but dropped three straight — by a total of nine points — to slide down the league standings. Wins of 69-61 over Lubbock Christian and 102-71 over Oklahoma Panhandle State last week got the Hillcats back on the winning track. Donald Moore averaged 20 points and J.C. Hartzler 17 points and four rebounds over the two games.

                LEADERS

                Donald Moore, Senior-17.2 ppg, 3.9 apg, 2.4 rpg, 1.5 spg, 43.5 3FG% (37-of-98)

                J.C. Hartzler, Senior-16.6 ppg, 4.3 rpg, 2.1 apg, 41.5 FG%

                Jeylyn Sharpe, Junior-12.4 ppg, 5.3 rpg, 1.5 apg, 59.8 FG%, 57.1 3FG% (12-of-21)

                Robert Johnson, Senior-10.8 ppg, 5.8 rpg, 1.4 apg, 62.0 FG%

                Corey Ayala, Senior-5.8 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 2.3 apg, 69.8 FG%

HISTORY LESSON

The Jets snagged an 81-72 victory at Fugate Gymnasium late last season to snap a three-game skid against the Hillcats. RSU took the first three games in the series since the two became Heartland Conference members.

NOTES

-Thurman was held to his second-lowest scoring output of the season against the Patriots, but still shot 40.0 percent from the field and pulled in a game-high nine rebounds. The last time the senior was held to single digits this season, he responded with three straight games of going for 27.

-Williams continues to turn up the pressure offensively, going for 21 points against DBU to make it four straight games scoring in double figures. The junior is putting up 15.3 ppg game over that stretch while shooting 50.0 percent from the floor.

-Nwosu, a junior, averaged 16.7 ppg over his first three conference games and seems to be getting back to that kind of pace after a slow stretch earlier this month, going for 14 Monday night to give him a 13.0-point average on an even 50.0-percent shooting over his past three games.

-Moore and Hartzler are the second-highest scoring duo thus far in the Heartland Conference, combining for 34 points each time out, and are the only teammates to each put up over 16 points per game.

-The Hillcats lead the conference in both shooting and defensive field goal percentage. RSU hits 52.2 percent of its shots from the field, although it has shot under its average in six of its past seven games. Likewise, all of the Hillcats' last seven opponents have shot better than its 39.1-percent shooting allowed.

COVERAGE

Thursday's 7:30 p.m. tipoff will be broadcast live on 1410 AM (KGSO) in Wichita, with live video, audio and statistics available at www.newmanjets.com.