Loper men pick up big win at home

Sports News

Kearney, Neb. - The Nebraska-Kearney men's basketball team used some torrid shooting and a big second half run to beat New Mexico Highlands, 101-90, Friday night at the Health & Sports Center.

The RMAC opener, both teams are now 5-2 on the season. In the preseason polls, the Cowboys were picked to win the RMAC. Last year. they won 20 games after winning just once during the 2007-08 campaign.

UNK erased an early 21-13 deficit to grab its own eight point lead, 33-25, late in the 1st half. However, only a three from junior reserve Brian Ridgeway (Casper, Wyo.) allowed the Lopers to lead at the break, 36-35.

Things stayed close in the 2nd half until the 15:42 mark when UNK got hot and went on a 17-5 run to open up an 18-point lead, 68-50. At one point in the 2nd half, UNK was 16 of 20 from the field (80.0 pct.) while Highlands was just 8 of 33 (24 pct.).

The key spurt featured back-to-back 3's from sophomore reserve Chris Deans (Hemingford) and also triples from junior starters Jeremy Cruise (St. Edward) and Max Froehlich (Pierce). Highlands did cut the lead to 10 points on several occasions but UNK went 32 of 43 at the line to hold off the comeback attempt.

An athletic Highlands team grabbed 34 offensive rebounds, leading to 96 shots, but couldn't throw the ball into the ocean, ending the night at 34.4 percent from the field. Mean while, UNK made 51.7 percent (30 of 58) of its shots.

Senior center Josiah Parker (Lincoln) continues his fine season by scoring 21 points on 10 of 15 field goal shooting with freshman guard Akeem Morissaint (Delray Beach, Fla.) making four 3's and going 9 of 12 at the line to tally a season-high 23 points. Finally, Froehlich had 18 of his 20 points in the 2nd half and also grabbed a team-high 11 rebounds, making this his first career double double.

For Highlands, senior guard Roman Andrade was 13 of 26 from the floor to tally 36 points. Since the 1999-00 season, only three other players have tallied more points against the Lopers. Also, Midaugas Markevicius had a double double (22 points, 11 rebounds).

UNK hosts CSU-Pueblo Saturday night