Game #27

Nebraska-Kearney (15-11, 9-8 MIAA) at Newman Jets (9-17, 3-14 MIAA)
Thursday Feb. 27 • 7:30 P.M. Wichita, Kan. • Fugate Gymnasium
Series Record: UNK leads series 1-0 Last Meeting: Feb 8^th, 2020 NU 72 UNK 85 in Kearney, Neb.
Internet Audio: Newmanjets.com/listen Internet Video: themiaanetwork.com/newman
Up Next: Fort Hays State • Saturday, Feb. 29 • 3:30 P.M. • Wichita, Kan.

LAST TIME OUT

In the first half, Newman would score the first four points of the game with two free throws and a jumper by Juwan Davenport. Newman would have its biggest lead in the first half after a great dunk by Jacob Birnbaum gave the Jets an 18-9 lead.  Newman would control the game for most of the first half, but Emporia State (10-15, 4-12) wouldn't go away quietly as the Hornets would eventually tie up the game at 23 with a 3 point basket and 1:23 left in the half. Emporia State would take the lead 25-23 before Marshawn Blackmon hit a layup with 46 seconds left to tie the game at 25 heading to the intermission.  In the second half and the score 49-48 in favor of Emporia State, Newman would go on a 13-4 run to gain a 8 point advantage with 3:49 left in the half. Newman would continue to keep pressure on the Hornets all night long. The Jets would gain their biggest lead of the night with a three point basket by Marshawn Blackmon that would give them a 12 point lead, 71-59. The late run by the Jets would be enough in this one as Newman would finish off Emporia State 71-61 to get their first win in almost a month. 

THE COACHES
RJ Allen is in his third season as the head coach and ninth on the staff for the Jets. Allen is 9-17, 3-14 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.

Kevin Lofton enters his fourth season as head coach of Nebraska-Kearney men's basketball program in 2019-20. Over the last four seasons, UNK has gone a combined 67-54, recording the program's first back-to-back 20-win seasons in a decade. The Lopers advanced to 2016 NCAA Tournament Round of 32 and reached the MIAA (Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Assoc.) Tournament semifinals twice. In five of the last six years Kearney has reached the MIAA Tournament quarterfinals in Kansas City.

ABOUT THE JETS
The Jets are 9-17 on the season, 3-14 in the MIAA. Newman is led in scoring by senior forward, Marshawn Blackmon at 17.2 points per game. Blackmon also leads the Jets in rebounding averaging 9.3 rebounds per game.

ABOUT THE LOPERS
Nebraska-Kearney is 15-11 on the season, 9-8 in the MIAA. The Lopers are led in scoring by Redshirt Senior forward, Morgan Soucie at 16.2 points per game. Soucie also leads the Lopers in rebounding at 6.2 per game.

SERIES HISTORY
This will be the second meeting between Newman and UNK with the Lopers winning the previous matchup on Feb. 8^th, 2020 85-72 over the Jets.
LAST MEETING VS. NEBRASKA KEARNEY
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.

UP NEXT
The Jets will return to action for Senior Day as they host Fort Hays State on Saturday February 29^th 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. For all of your Newman Jets Athletics apparel needs visit nujetsgear.com!