Game #9
Newman Jets (2-5, 2-5 MIAA) at Rogers State Hillcats (3-5, 3-5 MIAA)
Thursday, Jan. 7 • 7:30 P.M. Claremore, Okla. • Claremore Expo Center
Series Record: RSU leads series 10-5 Last Meeting: Jan. 15^th, 2020 RSU 82 NU 59 in Wichita, Kan.
Internet Audio: rsuradio.com Internet Video: themiaanetwork.com/newman
Up Next: at Northeastern State • Sat. Jan 9 • 3:30 P.M. • Tahlequah, Okla.

LAST TIME OUT
In the first half, Emporia State (5-1, 5-1) would start the game going on a 17-2 run before Branden Bunn would make a three point basket with 11:14 left in the first half.  The Jets would cut the Hornets lead down to 7 with 6:56 left to make the score 23-16.  Emporia State would then outscore the Jets 15-8 to close out the half shooting 7-11 from the floor in the final minutes.  In the second half, Emporia State continued to control the pace and would obtain their biggest lead of the game at 36 with 1:13 left in the contest.  The shooting struggles continued for the Jets in the second half with Emporia State responding to every scoring run the Jets tried to make. With the cold Jets shooting and the Hornets shooting 50% from the field and 63.6% from three in the second half, Emporia State would defeat the Jets 76-42 and get their first win over the Jets since Nov. 24th, 2017.

THE COACHES
RJ Allen is in his fourth season as the head coach and tenth on the staff for the Jets. Allen is 2-5, 2-5 in the MIAA in his fourth season at Newman. Last season under coach Allen, the Jets went 9-19 and 3-16 in the MIAA.  Allen has led Newman to a 34-23 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.

Justin Barkley is in his 11^th season as the head coach of the Rogers State Men's Basketball program.  Rogers State hit several milestones during the season, including the highest ranked victory in the NCAA era for the program, as the Hillcats snapped No. 11 Missouri Southern's 26-game winning streak at the Leggett & Platt Athletic Center. The win helped propel the Hillcats to their first-ever NCAA-era top 25 ranking at No. 23 two weeks later. The Hillcats would climb as high as No. 15 before finishing the year at No. 18.  Under Barkley's guidance, the Hillcats finished second in the regular season standings in their first season in the MIAA, often referred to as the toughest league in Division II, behind only No. 1 and defending national champion Northwest Missouri State.

ABOUT THE JETS
Newman is 2-5 on the season, 2-5 in the MIAA.  Newman is led in scoring by Junior guard Branden Bunn at 14.6 points per game.  Joel Boyce leads the Jets in rebounding at 7.1 rebounds per game. 

ABOUT THE HILLCATS
Rogers State is 3-5 on the season, 3-5 in the MIAA. Rogers State is led in scoring by Devin Pullum at 13.5 points per game.  Darraja Parnell leads the Hillcats in rebounding at 5.9 rebounds per game.

SERIES HISTORY
This will be the 16th meeting between these two schools with Rogers State leading the series over Newman 10-5 including three of the last four meetings in favor of the Hillcats.

LAST TIME VS ROGERS STATE
In the first half, Rogers State (13-4, 5-3) started the game on an 12-4 run to jump out to an early lead. A free throw by Omar Boone would stop the run with 15:44 left. The Jets would cut the deficit to 5 with 13:36 left on a jumper by Marshawn Blackmon. Rogers State would take control as they would outscore the Jets 25-16 for the remainder of the half to take a 39-25 lead into the intermission.  In the second half, the Hillcats would keep the momentum as they would slowly build their lead to 30 with 2:49 left in regulation. Newman was only outscored by 9 points in the second half compared to the 14 in the first half.
 
UP NEXT
The Jets will finish their road trip as they travel to Tahlequah, Oklahoma to take on Northeastern State on Saturday, Jan. 9 for another MIAA Conference Matchup with tip-off at 3:30 PM.

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 is 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. You can find all things Newman in the Newman Jets Athletics app available in both the App Store and on Google Play.