WICHITA, Kan. – Newman men's basketball extended their road winning streak to three straight with a 75-64 win at St. Mary's on Thursday evening (Feb. 14). The Jets moved to 17-7 overall, 8-4 in the Heartland with the win while the Rattlers dropped to 10-13 overall and 2-9 in the Heartland.
The teams engaged in a tight battle early with neither team gaining more than seven points of separation through the first 15 minutes. Senior, Dametrius Walker nailed his second three pointer of the first half with just over five minutes to play putting the Jets out to an eight-point advantage of 32-24.
However, the Rattlers stormed back with a quick 5-0 burst to get back to a three point deficit. Juwan Davenport concluded his strong first half play rattling in his second triple of the game giving him 12 first half points, extending the Newman lead to six, 41-35 until the Rattlers had the answer as the buzzer sounded cutting the deficit to a one possession game 41-38.
A back and forth contest in the second half was controlled by the Jets as Newman maintained the lead the rest of the game. Despite a 3:24 scoreless stretch by the Newman offense, the Rattlers would only cut the deficit to just two, 52-50. Davenport continued to shine big for the Jets when they needed a bucket hitting a jumper with 8:51 left ending the scoreless drought.
The Rattlers would convert on 1-of-2 free throws just under the under-8 timeout trimming the NU lead to one 54-53. Cameron Goldfinch put the Jets back on top 58-53 with 6:21 to play sinking a free throw to convert the old fashion three point play.
Davenport ruined the Rattlers last chance hitting his third three pointer of the game jumping the Jets back in front 63-59 with 3:40 to play starting a Newman 8-0 run over the next minute and half. The Jets would outscore the Rattlers 15-5 over the final 3:40 notching their third straight road win 75-64.
Juwan Davenport recorded his fourth 20+ point performance of the season leading the Jets with 22 points on 8-of-10 shooting from the field. Dametrius Walker reached double figures in scoring for the 12th time this year finishing with 18 points off the bench. Ben Ayre added in 10 points along with dishing out five assists. Marshawn Blackmon finished two points shy of another double-double despite pulling down 10 rebounds.
The Jets will look to conclude their farthest road trip of the season Saturday afternoon (Feb. 14) against Texas A&M International. Tip-off is scheduled for 3:00 p.m. inside the TAMIU Kinesiology and Convocation Building in Laredo, Texas.
