Game #25

Newman Jets (8-16, 2-13 MIAA) at Central Oklahoma (7-17, 4-11 MIAA)
Saturday Feb. 15 • 3:30 P.M. Edmond, Okla. • Hamilton Field House
Series Record: UCO leads Series 1-0 Last Meeting: Dec. 21, 2019 NU 66 UCO 68 in Wichita, Kan.
Internet Audio: Newmanjets.com/listen Internet Video: themiaanetwork.com/newman
Up Next: Emporia State • Thursday, Feb. 20 • 7:30 P.M. • Wichita, Kan.

LAST TIME OUT
For most of the first half, it was a back and forth game with neither team gaining much of an advantage.  Newman would score the first basket of the game as Kaleb Allison made a layup. With the score 21-20 in favor of Newman, Nebraska-Kearney (14-8,8-5) would outscore the Jets 20-13 in the final eight minutes of the first half to take a 40-34 lead going into halftime.  In the second half, Nebraska-Kearney would catch fire from 3 point range as they would go 7-13 from three to help them to their largest lead of the game at 16 points with 12:26 left.  Newman wouldn't go away as they would cut the Lopers lead to single digits with a couple Juwan Davenport free throws with 5:38 left.  The Jets would get the deficit as low as 7 on a couple of occasions in the half.  With the score 73-65 with 3:35 left, Nebraska-Kearney would eventually pull away from the Jets outscoring Newman 12-7 in the final minutes to hang on to the 85-72 win over the Jets.

THE COACHES
RJ Allen is in his third season as the head coach and ninth on the staff for the Jets. Allen is 8-16, 2-13 in the MIAA in his third season at Newman and first in the new conference. Allen has led Newman to a 36-26 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.

Bob Hoffman is in his first season with the Bronchos.  Hoffman brings over 600 career victories to Central Oklahoma. Hoffman came from Mercer, where he led the Bears to 209 wins in his 11 years at the school.

ABOUT THE JETS
The Jets are 8-16 on the season, 2-13 in the MIAA. Newman is led in scoring by senior forward, Marshawn Blackmon at 16.9 points per game. Blackmon also leads the Jets in rebounding averaging 9.5 rebounds per game.

ABOUT THE BRONCHOS
Central Oklahoma is 7-17 on the season, 4-11 in the MIAA. The Bonchos are led in scoring by Sophomore forward, Camryn Givens at 11.1 points per game. Givens also leads the Bronchos in rebounding at 5.8 per game.

SERIES HISTORY
This will be the second ever meeting between these schools with Central Oklahoma winning the last meeting 68-66 in Wichita, Kan.

LAST TIME VS CENTRAL OKLAHOMA
Despite outscoring the Bronchos in the first half, Newman failed to put away Central Oklahoma.  In the first half, Newman would start on fire going on a 16-2 run to begin the contest.  Central Oklahoma would tie the game at 20-20 with 7:51 left in the first half.  Newman would respond by going on an 11-0 run to end the first half with a 9 point lead at the intermission, 39-30.  In the second half, Central Oklahoma would turn up the pressure. The Bronchos would slowly cut into the deficit and eventually tie the game up at 54-54 with 6:47 left in the second half.  After some back and forth scoring by both teams, Newman had a 1 point lead with 1:35 left in regulation.  Marshawn Blackmon would hit a jumper to make the Jets lead up to 3 with 45 seconds left.  Central Oklahoma would come down on the ensuing possession and make a big three point basket to tie the game at 66-66 with 29 seconds left.  Newman had possession with less than 30 seconds left in the game but would end up turning the ball over and UCO would call a timeout with 4.2 seconds left.  This gave Central Oklahoma a chance to beat Newman on their own home floor. The Bronchos would inbound the ball to Dashon Bell, who was 1-9 on the night, Bell would dribble down the far side of the court and pull up a few feet inside the three point line and sink a jumper, his second make of the night.

UP NEXT
The Jets will return home for homecoming as they take on Emporia State on Thursday February 20^th at 7:30 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. For all of your Newman Jets Athletics apparel needs visit nujetsgear.com!