JOPLIN, MO. - Latik Murphy netted a career high 26 points on 11-18 shooting in a 70-66 loss to Missouri Southern on Thursday night.

Murphy's career high kept the Jets in the game in the first half as 18 of Murphy's 26 would give Newman more than half of their 32 first half points to keep the Jets' deficit at 16.

The Lions would counter Murphy by shooting near perfect from 3 as MSSU would start off 10 for their first 11 from beyond the arc, having a comfortable lead as Southern's Dessecow led the way in the first half by making his first 5 three point attempts to help his team finish 56.7% from three in the first half.

That hot shooting quickly cooled down with Newman using an 18-4 run to rattle the Lions and bring the game within 2. The Jets capitalized off Southern turnovers and highlighted it with a 6-0 run in 20 seconds after Stevie Smith caused a turnover just 2 seconds after a Latik Murphy layup, leading to an eventual Sam Somerhalder steal which then led to another Latik Murphy layup to bring the game within reach for Newman who showed a different style than what Missouri Southern saw earlier in the season.

The Lions defeated Newman 100-66 in Fugate earlier in the season.

Southern countered with an 8-0 run with 7:55 remaining in the game before the Jets dug deep to string together a 12-6 run to bring it within 4 with just over a minute left. Southern would sink their free throws down the stretch to stop the Jets from a chance at a road victory in Joplin.

Stevie Strong has continued his impressive streak of scoring double digits in every game this season with a 13 point performance, bringing his streak to 18 games.

Stevie Smith finished with 11 points.

Newman will look to snap their 3 game losing streak against a struggling Pitt State team this Saturday in Pittsburg, Kansas at 3:30 PM.