WICHITA, Kan. — Able to fight through its own lulls and never let its opponent get on a roll, the Newman men's basketball team blew by St. Mary's 81-68 and into a tie for first place in the Heartland Conference during homecoming Thursday night at Fugate Gymnasium.

KEY SEQUENCE

Already up double digits after Dametrius Walker hit a pair of free throws, the Jets (12-11, 8-4 Heartland) allowed no chance for the Rattlers (7-16, 3-8 Heartland) to come back when Kevin Bryant dumped in a layup with 2:58 left to play and followed that 15 seconds later with a dagger of a 3-pointer to make it 77-62.

HOW IT HAPPENED

-Scoreless for nearly two minutes, a Damien Akao 3-pointer and Tim Troussel layup made it 5-0 early, and a 7-0 run from the Jets — capped by a Troussel triple — made it 12-5. A string of made shots from both teams had it still a seven-point lead for Newman before an 11-2 run gave the Rattlers their only lead of the game at 27-25 with less than five minutes to go in the half.

-Facing the biggest challenge of the night, Newman answered in a big way, scoring the next 11 points in just 1:29 of game time. Walker converted a three-point play to get it started, followed by a flurry from Bryant, who made back-to-back three-point plays before a third straight made field goal to suddenly make it a 36-17 Jet lead with 3:16 on the clock.

-A Ben Ayre 3-pointer got things started for the Jets in the second half, and two quick buckets from Troussel pushed the lead into double digits at 49-37. The Rattlers tried to claw their way back into it, scoring five straight to slice the lead to six at the 6:59 mark of the second half.

-Walker managed to extend the lead to 70-60 nearly three minutes later, and after St. Mary's answered with a basket of its own, the Jets ripped off a 9-0 run around Bryant's burst that slammed the door shut on the Rattlers.

NOTES

-Bryant had a monster night, going for game highs with 23 points and 17 rebounds, adding three steals and two assists. That makes six double-doubles on the season for the senior, including four in Heartland play.

-The win not only extended Newman's winning streak to a conference-best four games, but moved the Jets into a three-way tie atop the Heartland standings. Newman sits at 8-4 with four games to play, along with Dallas Baptist and Arkansas-Fort Smith.

WHAT'S NEXT

The Jets host Texas A&M International in their next-to-last home game of the season Saturday afternoon back at Fugate Gymnasium.