March 3, 2004

Men Hit 3's in Kropp's 300^th Win

Lopers to Play Mesa State

            Kearney, NE – The 7^th-ranked Nebraska-Kearney men's basketball team hit 13 three pointers, in the first half, en route to a 98-78 win over Colorado State-Pueblo in the first round of the RMAC Tournament Wednesday night at the Health & Sports Center.

            UNK (24-3), the third seed in the tournament, will play 2^nd seed Mesa State (19-8) Saturday night in Colorado Springs at 7:30 p.m. CST. The Mavericks beat 7^th-seeded Fort Hays State, 86-77, tonight in Grand Junction, Color.

            The victory also was the 300^th of head coach Tom Kropp's career. In his 14^th year as leader of the Lopers, Kropp has a career mark of 300-111 (72.9 winning percentage). He has led UNK to 10 20-win seasons and seven NCAA Tournament appearances.

            Six Lopers scored in double figures with five different players sinking at least one three pointer. UNK built a 58-38 halftime lead by shooting 72.2 percent (13 of 18) from the three point line.

            North Platte senior Jacob Mohs and Utah junior Will Taukiuvea each were 3 of 3 from downtown in the first 20 minutes with Grand Island senior Chad Sheffield going 3 of 4. Also, Iowa junior Matt Jenkins was 3 of 5 from triple land in the first half.

            Earlier this year in a win over New Mexico Highlands, the Lopers set a new school record by making 17 threes, which included a 9 of 10 effort in the second half.

            CSUP (19-9) sunk eight threes of its own in the second half but the Thunderwolves never got the deficit under 16 points. Besides the hot three point shooting, UNK also scored 34 points off 22 Pueblo turnovers.

            Taukiuvea scored 11 of his 16 points in the first six minutes of the game while Columbus freshman Dusty Jura scored 11 after halftime to also finish with 16. He also grabbed a team-high 11 rebounds.

             Seniors Brian Dunagan and Nick Branting each tallied 14 points while Mohs finished with 13 and Sheffield 11. Sheffield also handed out seven assists. 

            With his effort tonight, Branting moves into eighth place on the UNK career scoring list with 1,649 points. He is now ninth on the UNK single season point list (621).

            CSUP senior guard Alfred Sanchez had 25 points and six assists in his final collegiate game.