TULSA, Okla. — With a big start to the second half erasing an early deficit, the Newman men's basketball recorded its first-ever postseason victory as members of the Heartland Conference, grabbing an 81-79 victory over Lubbock Christian in the conference quarterfinals Friday afternoon at the Union Multipurpose Activity Center to keep its season alive.
KEY SEQUENCE
Numerous shots and free throws late were crucial, but a huge run by Taylor Schieber off the bench in the second half sparked the No. 7 seed Jets (17-12) both emotionally and on the scoreboard as they capped off a comeback. His first 3-pointer came with 14:45 left in the half to tie things for the first time since it was 6-6 two minutes into the game. A slick fake and drive to the basket cut the lead to two for the No. 2 seed Chaparrals (20-9), and treys on back-to-back Newman possessions both took it from an LCU lead to a one-point advantage for the Jets, the last with 12:06 on the clock.
HOW IT HAPPENED
-Early 3-pointers out of Jalen Love and Gavin Thurman boosted the Jets out to a 6-2 lead less than 90 seconds in, but after starting things off 2-of-2 from the field, they went cold as the Chaparrals were getting hot. LCU ripped off 14 straight points to turn a deficit into a double-digit lead with 14:03 on the clock.
-A nice cut by Taylor Schieber off a loose ball stopped the Newman drought, and a stick-back by Kevin Bryant cut it to 16-10 with 12:34 to play, but that was the closest the game got for over 14 minutes. The Chaps scored the next six points to build the lead back up, and pushed the advantage as high as 13 multiple times midway through the first half.
-That LCU lead bulged to 14 at 35-21 with 4:45 to play in the period, but the Jets were able to get into a bit of a rhythm over the final minutes, netting 13 of the final 21 points before the half. A trey from Love cut the margin back to single digits at 35-27 with 3:57 to go, and Daniel Nwosu did the same to make it 38-30 50 seconds later.
-A free throw from James Pegues brought the lead back down to six points with 1:16 left as the Jet defense ramped up to hold the Chaps to 1-of-5 from the floor during their comeback, but a 3-pointer off a second-chance opportunity for LCU handed it a nine-point lead at the break.
-Another triple started the second half for the Chaps, but the run that Newman was waiting for finally came, as it stormed ahead with a lengthy streak. Nwosu started it off with a 3-pointer to answer LCU on the next possession, and a steal followed by a fastbreak three-point play by Pegues made it 46-42 just over two minutes into the half.
-A short jumper by Thurman followed by a pair of free throws out of Love made it a three-point game at 49-46 with 16:06 on the clock, and a Bryant lay-in off a feed from Pegues cut it to a one-point lead. It then turned into the Schieber Show, as the junior scored the next 11 Jet points in a span of 2:44.
-Cortrael Colbert sunk a pair of free throws to push that lead to three at 61-58 with 11:38 to go, and after the Chaps twice went back in front over the next two-plus minutes, another triple from Nwosu put the Jets back in front by two at 67-65. The junior was feeling his shot as he nailed another from beyond the arc to give Newman its biggest lead of the game at that point, up 71-65 with 6:23 to go.
-After LCU cut it to a four-point game less than a minute later, Love netted the next four points to lift the Jets out to an eight-point advantage at 75-67. The Chaps were able to grab the next eight points, the final four coming on free throws, to tie things up once again.
-A spot-up 3-pointer from Love after a Jet timeout with 2:25 to play put the seventh-seed up for good, and a free throw out of Thurman proved crucial as the Chaps brought it back to within two points. Nwosu grabbed a crucial rebound off an LCU miss and then hit both freebies after being fouled to make it 81-77, and the Jets held on through the last-ditch effort.
NOTES
-In addition to being the Jets' first postseason win as a member of Division II, it is also their first postseason win since the 2004-05, when Newman topped Huntington (Ind.) 85-76 in the first round of the NAIA National Championship on March 9, 2005.
-Schieber finished the game with 13 points — 11 coming during a stretch that saw him hit 4-of-5 from the field in less than five minutes. He finished the game 5-of-9 from the floor and 3-of-5 from deep and recorded his first double-digit scoring effort since Feb. 11 against Oklahoma Christian.
-Daniel Nwosu and Jalen Love each finished with 17 points to lead the Jets, and both pulled in three rebounds. Nwosu was 5-of-9 shooting, all from beyond the arc, and Love was 4-of-7. Thurman added a 13-point night and grabbed four rebounds, while Pegues went for eight points, six rebounds, and four assists.
-The Chaps started the game 11-of-14 from the field, but cooled off considerably as the Jets found their footing. LCU still shot 10-of-22 (45.5 percent) in the second half, but that was enough of a lull that Newman could take advantage by going 13-of-27 (48.1 percent) after the break. More importantly, the Jets hit 13-of-15 from the line in the second half after shooting just 45.5 percent in the first half.
-The Jets fired off 28 3-point attempts, making 15 of them. Those 15 makes tied a season-high for the team, who also made 15 against Bethel College in December, and the 53.6-percent clip they made their shots from deep at was the second-best mark of the season.
WHAT'S NEXT
The Jets face the winner of Friday's contest between No. 3 seed Dallas Baptist and No. 6 Texas-Permian Basin back at the UMAC at 7:30 p.m. Saturday.
