February 23, 2008

Men's Basketball Wins Shootout with Colorado Springs

Win, CCU Loss Allows Lopers to Tie For East Crown

     Kearney, Neb. – The Nebraska-Kearney men’s basketball team made 12 three pointers, tying a season-high, to out last Colorado-Colorado Springs, 106-94, Saturday afternoon at the Health & Sports Center.

     The regular season finale for both teams, UNK (15-12, 13-6) will be the second seed in next weekend’s RMAC Tournament. The Lopers will host a first round game next Friday at 8:00 p.m. against an opponent to be determined.

     Late Saturday night, Colorado Mines beat Colorado Christian, 77-74. Both CCU and Lopers finish with the same RMAC record but UNK swept the season series from the Cougars.

     Colorado Springs (10-17) came in riding a three game winning streak and ends the year with a 6-13 league mark.

     Needing to win today to host a first round RMAC game, UNK went 12 of 29 behind the arc, including a 7 of 13 effort in the second half. In a game that featured 13 lead changes and 10 ties, it was fitting that the Mountain Lions also had similar triple numbers; 12 of 30 and 7 of 16 in the second half.

      Freshman lefty Jeremy Cruise, a walk on from St. Edward, led the Lopers with a season-high 27 points. He finished 6 of 11 from behind the three point line and joined Bellevue sophomore Jeff Martin as Lopers to play all 40 minutes.

     Martin warmed up in the second half to finish with 20 points on 4 of 10 three point shooting. All four treys, and 16 points, came in the second half.

      Like Thursday night, Ravenna sophomore Drake Beranek had a big first half (19 points, nine rebounds) but was limited by the opponents defense that was geared to stop him. He still finished three assists shy of a rare triple double; 25 points, 16 rebounds and seven assists.

      This was Beranek’s 12^th double double of the year with the 16 boards tying a career-high.

      Also, freshman guard Garrett Lever had his first collegiate double double (15 points, 10 assists) while sophomore center Josiah Parker made 9 of 11 shots to tally 19 points. He also had seven rebounds and swatted two shots.

      In the first half, there were 10 ties in the first 16 minutes. UNK finally broke loose, using a 10-3 run to open up a seven point lead, 41-34. The spurt included six straight points from Beranek.

      The Mountain Lions quickly came back early in the second half, however, using a series of three pointers from the corner to grab a 61-60 lead with 12:57 to play. UNK would come back to lead by six but a layup by reserve Jordan McClung gave Springs an 81-80 lead at the 6:20 mark.

    The Lopers finally secured the win with a 12-2 run that opened up an eight point advantage, 93-85, with 2:50 left. Five straight points from Parker started the run, then Lever went 4 of 4 at the line to continue the spurt.

    Colorado Springs was led by senior guard Nic Fuller, who tallied a game-high 32 points on 12 of 16 shooting (5 of 8 threes). Not to be out done, Kyle Perkins added 17 with reserve Frank McCollum scoring 12 of his 13 in the second half.