LUBBOCK, Texas – A tale of two halves was the case Thursday evening (Jan. 31) as the Newman men's basketball team saw their four game winning streak snapped by Lubbock Christian 78-70. The Jets fall to 14-6 on the year and fall to 5-3 in conference play.
Senior, Christian DeYoung sparked the Newman offense in the early going scoring five of the Jets seven points during an opening 7-2 run. The Jets' offense would continue to build onto their lead at the midway point of the first half with a 13-4 run over a span of 4:06 taking their largest lead of the half 24-12. The Newman lead however would vanish quickly as the Chaparrals used an 8-0 run over a 4:02 span, trimming the Jets lead 26-24 with 3:59 to play.
Despite the Chaparrals tying the game 30-30 with a minute to play in the half, the Jets finished strongly with a 4-0 Ben Ayre run taking a 34-30 lead into the break.
After a DeAndre Johnson layup to open the half extending the Newman lead out to 36-30, the Chaparrals caught fire answering back with a 9-0 run taking their first lead of the game 39-36 with 17:29 to play. After a Juwan Davenport jumper ending the LCU 9-0 run the Chaparrals continued to stay hot with back-to-back triples during another 8-0 run taking their largest lead of the game 47-38.
Senior, Dametrius Walker led the Jets' offense back with four points during a 6-0 run cutting the deficit to 47-44, however the Chaparrals would answer back with a 10-4 run extending their lead back out to 57-48.
The Chaparrals continued to thread the needle shooting making six straight field goal attempts extending their lead out to 67-55 with 7:28 to play.
The Jets would cut the Chaparrals lead down to six points with 44-seconds to play after back-to-back triples from Cameron Goldfinch, but the rally fell just short as the Chaparrals converted enough free throws down the stretch.
The Jets finished with three players in double-digit scoring. Ben Ayre led the way for Jets with 16 points and seven boards. Cameron Goldfinch finished with a new season high 12 points in just 18 minutes. Juwan Davenport finished with 10 points.
The Jets will continue the road trip on Saturday afternoon (Feb. 2) against Oklahoma Christian. Tip-off is scheduled for 3:00 p.m. inside the Barn in Oklahoma City, Okla.
