CLAREMORE, Okla. – A tale of two halves was the case Thursday evening (Jan. 10) inside the Expo Center, as the Newman University men's basketball team suffered a gut wrenching 75-65 loss to Rogers State. The Jets saw their six game winning streak end while dropping to 10-5 on the year and falling to 1-2 in the Heartland Conference.
The Jets came out firing on all cylinders after a triple from Senior, guard Ben Ayre extended the lead to 7-2 just three minutes into the contest. The two teams continued to match one another as the Newman lead never grew past five over the next seven minutes.
Just under-10 minutes left in the first half, the Australian guard continued to dominate in the early going, drilling his second triple of the half extending the Newman lead back out to five, 22-17. The Jets continued to extend their lead on a Dametrius Walker steal and layup followed up by a pair of Allen Wilson free throws putting the Jets up 26-17 with 8:30 to play in the half during a 9-0 run.
Despite going scoreless for almost four minutes, the Jets defense maintained to hold the Hillcats to just three points. Marshawn Blackmon would extended the Jets lead to ten, 30-20 with just under five minutes to go in the half on layup underneath. The Jets continued to sustain an eight point lead for the rest of the first half heading into the break on-top 38-30 after an Ayre layup capped a 17-point first half performance.
After having a 10 point lead in the first half, the second half would not start the way the Jets planned. Rogers State quickly caught fire from behind the three point line, hitting seven of their first eight three point attempts to begin the second half, taking a 57-50 lead with 12:31 to play.
While momentum was not with the Jets, Cameron Goldfinch produced some big minutes coming off the bench sparking some life back into the Jets scoring seven straight points cutting the RSU lead, 59-57 with 8:09 to play. The Jets clawed their way back into the lead with a 7-0 run after three pointers from Ayre and Christian Davenport making it 65-63 Newman, with 4:19 to play.
The Hillcats would claw back closing the game on a 12-0 run, as the Jets would go scoreless over the final 4:19.
Guard, Ben Ayre was the lone Jet reaching double-figures in scoring finishing with 22 points, dishing out five assists. DeAndre Johnson led the Jets on the glass pulling down 11 rebounds.
The Jets will have a quick turnaround as they return back home for a 3 p.m. start against Arkansas-Fort Smith, Saturday (Jan. 12) inside the Fugate Gymnasium.
