Game #15

Newman Jets (7-7, 1-4 MIAA) at Pittsburg State Gorillas (5-8, 1-3 MIAA)
Thursday, Jan. 9 • 7:30 P.M. Pittsburg, Kan. • John Lance Arena
Series Record: PITT leads the series 6-4 Last Meeting: Nov. 21, 2017 NU 69, PITT 88 in Kansas City, Mo.
Internet Audio: Newmanjets.com/listen Internet Video: themiaanetwork.com/newman
Up Next: Missouri Southern State • Sat. Jan. 11 • 3:30 P.M. • Joplin, Mo.

LAST TIME OUT
Last time on the floor, The Newman Jets hosted the Central Missouri Mules Monday night inside Fugate Gymnasium.  Newman would defeat Central Missouri 84-77 with a second half surge to secure their first conference win of the MIAA Era. In the first half, Central Missouri (6-7, 1-3) was able to gain their largest lead of the night with 5:37 left to play in the period, 13 points.  Trailing by double digits, the Jets were able to fight back, eventually tying up the game 35-35 at the half. In the second half, Newman would continue to build on their momentum gained at the end of the first half to get their largest lead of 11 points. From that point, Newman could taste their first MIAA win and never looked back. Allen Wilson sealed the win for the Jets hitting two free throws with 13 seconds left to give the Jets the 84-77 win.

THE COACHES
RJ Allen is in his third season as the head coach and ninth on the staff for the Jets. Allen is 7-7 in his third season at Newman. Allen has led Newman to a 36-25 overall record and a 21-11 Heartland Conference record over his first two seasons. Allen won Heartland Conference Coach of the Year honors in the 2017-18 season, he was the first coach to win the award in their first season. Prior to Newman, Allen spent 5 season as an assistant coach at Concordia University in St. Paul, Minn.

Kim Anderson is in his third year as the head coach of Pittsburg State University Men's basketball program in 2019-20.  Anderson enters the 2019-20 season with a 335-188 (.641) career collegiate coaching record, including a 34-26 (.576) mark in 60 games leading Pitt State. He guided the Gorillas to a 17-13 record in his debut season in 2017-18 – a 12-game improvement in the win column from the previous year's squad. Anderson also led Pitt State to a 17-13 overall mark in 2018-19.

ABOUT THE JETS
The Jets are 7-7 on the season, 1-4 in the MIAA. Newman is led in scoring by senior forward, Marshawn Blackmon at 17.4 points per game and Juwan Davenport at 12.7 points per game. Blackmon also leads the Jets in rebounding as he is averaging just under 10 per game at 9.5.

ABOUT THE GORILLAS
Pittsburg State is 5-8 on the season, 1-3 in the MIAA. The Gorillas are led in scoring by senior guard, Jah-Kobe Womack at 13.8 points per game. Christian Edmondson leads the Gorillas in rebounding at 8.3 rebounds per game.

SERIES HISTORY
This will be the eleventh meeting between NU and PITT in Newman's Division II era with the Gorillas leading the series 6-4. Pitt State won the latest meeting 88-69 in Kansas City, Mo.

LAST TIME VS PITTSBURG STATE
An early 4-0 lead for PSU — all on free throws — was answered with a 7-0 burst from the Jets all from Ben Ayre. The Gorillas answered with a seven-point run of its own, but Ayre calmly converted on back-to-back three-point plays to tie it up 13-13 at the 11:48 mark.  Pitt State extended the lead out to nine in the next two minutes, but Andre Sands netted four straight points to key a 6-0 run and get it back to three. Coming out of the final media timeout of the first half, Newman ran off an 11-0 spurt, with Jacob Birnbaum picking up layups on three straight trips down the floor and Ayre adding a big 3-pointer as the Jets went ahead 37-33 with less than three minutes until halftime.  A 9-2 run was enough to put Pitt State back in front late in the half, but a Tim Troussel lay-in made it a one-point game at the break. Dametrius Walker and Sands each gave the Jets back the lead early in the second half, and Walker answered a PSU triple with one of his own two minutes into the period to make it 48-47.  Ayre hit a triple at the 16:16 mark to give Newman its final lead of the game before the Gorillas went on their run to take control. DeAndre Johnson and Cameron Goldfinch each converted a pair of free throws with less than seven minutes to play to momentarily cut the lead to single digits at 70-61, but PSU followed with a 6-0 run to help dull the threat.  Ben Ayre and the Newman men's basketball team put up a thrilling first-half performance Tuesday night at the MIAA Challenge at Kansas City's Municipal Auditorium, but Pittsburg State controlled the final 20 minutes to earn an 88-69 win.

UP NEXT
The Jets will take on Missouri Southern State University on Saturday Jan. 11^th, 2020 at 3:30 P.M. for another MIAA Conference matchup.

LISTEN, WATCH & FOLLOW LIVE
Video streams for all of Newman's regular season contests are available on a pay per view basis on the MIAA Network. Events are available live and are immediately archived for on-demand viewing at the conclusion of the event at www.themiaanetwork.com/newman and on the MIAA Network apps for Amazon Fire TV, Android TV, Apple TV and Roku. Listen along to all of the Newman Jets games on The Jets Audio Network with Blake Cripps on the call at newmanjets.com/listen. You can now find all things Newman in the Newman Jets Athletics app available in both the App Store and on Google Play.