WICHITA, Kan. - Newman welcomed Tabor College down the road to square off in the Jets' first home game of the season.  R.J. Allen and the 2021-22 Men's Basketball team picked up win number one on the campaign, beating the Bluejays 59-53.

The Jets now sit at 1-2 on the season with another pair of home games on tap next week.  Newman hopes to welcome back a full power squad leading into conference play.

Branden Bunn got the Jets rolling early with a 3-pointer to open the scoring.  The Jets went on a 10-0 run to open the contest, not conceding a point until after the first media timeout.

The Bluejays would not go down without a fight responding with a 10-1 run making it 11-10 Jets.  Newman would not concede the lead.  The Jets jumped out to a lead as big as 12 with a pull-up jump shot from Stevie Strong.  Strong finished the game with 10 off the bench.

Leading at the half 29-20, Newman extended their lead to the largest of the night 13 with a Damani Thomas 3-pointer.  Thomas finished with 11.  At 8:59, Tabor evened the game at 43 with a flood of inside shots.

Ian Lee said enough was enough scoring the Jets final 8 points and icing out the Tabor Bluejays.  Lee finished with 10 points and 4 assists.  All 10 of Lee's points came in the second half.

The Jets shot 8-17, 47.1% from 3.  David Javorsky assisted in that strong percentage by draining all 3 of his attempts from long range.  Javorsky tied Thomas with 11 points to lead the Jets in scoring.  Newman also assisted on 11 of their 18 field goals.

Coach Allen and his team will continue to find this team's identity as the season plays out.  The Jets take the court again against Sterling College.  The Tuesday contest is slated for a 7:30 PM tip-off.