WICHITA, Kan. — Not backing down when facing a ranked team hitting its stride, the Newman men's basketball team played its best half of the season to top No. 15/22 Arkansas-Fort Smith 73-64 Wednesday night in Heartland Conference action at Fugate Gymnasium.
KEY SEQUENCE
The Jets (10-11, 6-4 Heartland) outplayed the Lions (18-4, 7-4 Heartland) for the entirety of the second half, but it was an eight-minute stretch through the middle of the half the propelled the hosts. Getting big 3-pointers from Dametrius Walker and Damien Akao, as well as a loud dunk from Andre Sands, Newman turned a nine-point deficit into a nine-point lead on its way to the win.
HOW IT HAPPENED
-Newman managed to keep things tight in the early going, with Cameron Goldfinch and Ben Ayre hitting back-to-back jumpers to tie it at 4-4, and Ayre answering a UAFS 3-pointer with one of his own to make it 7-7 just over three minutes in. The Lions followed with a 9-1 run, and pushed their advantage out to 10 at the under-8 timeout.
-Two free throws and a 3-pointer from Ayre over the next two minutes helped make it a four-point game. Ayre and Walker would add buckets to keep it manageable, but the Lions scored eight straight to give them the largest lead of the night at 41-30 with 1:21 left in the half. A layup from Walker, on a feed from Ayre, in the final seconds of the half seemed to simply cut the deficit back to single digits, but was a sign for things to come in the second half.
-Tim Troussel scored the first four points after intermission to get it to a five-point margin, but UAFS picked up 3-pointers on back-to-back trips down the floor from DaVaunta Thomas, and was suddenly back in front by a 47-38 score less than four minutes into the half. That's where the Jets seemed to catch fire though, as Akao and Walker hit treys to get the run started.
-After another Thomas 3-pointer, Newman scored seven straight to take their first lead on a big dunk from Sands to make it 51-50. The Lions followed with a dunk of their own, but were whistled for a technical in the celebration. Akao sank the two ensuing free throws, and started the Jets on a run of 11 straight points. When Walker's lay-in fell through the net with 8:09 left to play, the hosts led it 62-53.
-The Lions had one last run left in them, scoring eight straight over the next four minutes to make it a one-point contest. Another layup with 2:25 to play once again cut it to one, but Walker buried a 3 on the other end, and he and Akao went 6-for-6 from the line in the last two minutes.
NOTES
-The win was the first over a ranked team by the Jets since they knocked off No. 2 Washburn 86-69 on Dec. 15, 2012.
-During Newman's key run in the second half, the Jets shot 8-of-9 from the floor, including 4-of-5 from deep in a span of 7:59. They outscored the Lions, who were held to 2-of-8 shooting and turned it over four times, 24-6 to flip a nine-point deficit into a nine-point lead.
-The Jets took advantage of reaching the free throw line, converting 18-of-21 (85.7 percent).
WHAT'S NEXT
The Jets take a break from a homestand, traveling to St. Edward's Saturday afternoon for a quick road trip.
