WICHITA, Kan. – A quick start to the second half proved to be enough for Northeastern State to best Newman, 75-66, on Saturday afternoon. 

The win gives NSU the season sweep over the Jets and sends them to 5-4 in MIAA and 12-6 overall.

Wichita native Caleb Smith paced NSU for the eighth time this season with 26-points, it was the 13th time in his career he surpassed 20-points in a RiverHawk uniform.  Troy Locke had a season-best afternoon off the bench with 16-points on 6-for-10 shooting while grabbing five boards. 

The NSU bench, which has struggled in the last five games, outscored the Jets 19-0 in the second half. 

"It was a total team effort, winning on the road is hard," said head coach Mark Downey. "We got two more at home this week, and it's a long eight games at the end of the year with two at home. We just got to keep plugging away; we've got to be road-tough." 

Neither team could make any headway in the first half with 14 lead changes.  Smith provided the RiverHawks with most of their offense with 15 points, seven of which were from the free-throw line. NSU struggled from long-range and was 2-for-13 at the half but held onto a slight 36-35 edge over the Jets. 

The RiverHawks opened the second half with eight unanswered points to set the tone the rest of the way and never trailed again.   Newman would close the gap to 46-44 with 15:17 left in the game; the RiverHawks followed up with a 9-2 run in the next three minutes. All of NSU's points would come at the arc.

NSU held a slight 35-34 rebounding edge over the Jets while shooting 44.6-percent (25-56) from the field. DeVonta Prince joined Locke for the team lead in rebounding with five.   

Newman has now dropped five of their last six contests and fall to 7-11 overall and 1-8 in the MIAA. 

Northeastern State will return home this week to host Lincoln on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. inside the Event Center.