November 25, 2003

Branting Leads Men’s Basketball

Lopers Win Season Opener 

            Kearney, NE – North Platte senior forward Nick Branting scored a career-high 36 points to lead the 24^th-ranked Nebraska-Kearney men’s basketball team to a 108-95 win over Peru State Tuesday night at the Health & Sports Center. It was the Lopers first game of the year while the Bobcats fall to 3-5 on the young season.

            The win  extends the Lopers home court win streak to 22 games, currently the longest such streak in NCAA Division II.

            While Peru shot 67.2 percent from the floor, UNK tallied 44 points off 24 Bobcat turnovers. That helped the Lopers hold a double figure lead for the last 30 minutes of the game.

            Branting, the team’s second leading scorer that past two years, had 15 points on seven of 11 shooting in the first half. He scored 13 straight points in just a little over three minute’s midway through the second half and made seven of nine shots after the break.

            His previous career best was 25 points two years ago at Chadron State. Branting joins five other Lopers who’ve tallied 36 in a single game. That last player to reach the mark was Nick Svehla in the regional final win over Metro State this past March.

            Also for UNK, Columbus redshirt freshman Dusty Jura had 16 points and a team-best seven rebounds in his first collegiate contest. Grand Island senior guard Brian Dunagan had 13 points and six assists while Iowa junior Matt Jenkins (110 and Omaha junior Cameron Lollar (10) each came off the bench to score in double figures.

            Mike Woods, who scored 27 points on 13 of 19 shooting, paced Peru.

            UNK held just a 25-22 lead at the 11:13 mark of the first half before Jenkins came off the bench to spark a 15-2 run. Eleven of the points in the run came off three straight Jenkins three pointers with Lollar and Utah junior Will Taukiuvea (eight points, four boards) each adding layups. Peru wouldn’t get closer than 11 points the rest of the night.

            UNK heads to Omaha this weekend to face Concordia-St. Paul, Minn., and Bellevue in UNO’s Tournament.