WICHITA - The Jets hosted Nebraska Kearney for the Newman Athletics Hall of Fame game.
The Jets took a few minutes to get their offense going, but once they did they took off. Newman shot 40% from the field and 41% from three. Nebraska Kearney had the first run of the half going up 20-8 with 11:00 minutes still to play. That lead didn't stop the Jets, they kept chipping at that lead. Scoring from Stevie Strong and Latik Murphy lead the Jets on a 17-3 run to tie the game at 38 all with1:22 to go in the half. The Lopers scored again, putting Newman down at the break by just 1 point. Strong had 17 pts and Murphy netted 9 in the first half.
Newman made the first run with scores from 3 different Jets, taking the lead 44-40. The Jets slowly started adding onto that lead. Sam Somerhalder had a big momentum shifting play with an and 1. With 14:00 minutes left to play, Newman pushed the lead to 7. The Lopers pushed to close the gap and brought themselves within 3 points with 7 minutes to go. After that push from the Lopers, Strong took over with less than 4 minutes to go. He scored 9 straight points for the Jets offense, 15 total points in the 4th quarter. After that hot streak from Strong, the Lopers couldn't pull within reach and Newman ran away with the win.
Strong led all scorers with 40 points going 59% from the field and 58% from 3. His 2nd 40 point performance broke the Newman record for points in an MIAA conference game. Stevie also continued his impressive streak of reaching double digit scoring. Strong's 40th point came on his final shot of the game as the shot clock expired with 6 seconds remaining in the game.
"The funny thing is I actually didn't know I had 37 points going into that last shot." Said Stevie when asked about his thoughts on reaching 40 in the 10 point victory over UNK. "I was really excited that we put the game out of reach and got the win." It was the second win of the season over the Lopers, earning the series win against UNK.
Somerhalder recorded a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds.
Newman is back in action at home February 8th at 7:30 pm vs. Washburn.
