WICHITA, Kan. — In a night that featured 12 ties, Newman finished on a 13-1 run to down Northeastern State 74-66 on the road Thursday night.  The contest opened a marathon finish to the regular season, with the RiverHawks playing six games in ten days. 

The Jets missed their first 11 three-pointers of the night but made them when they counted, making three of their final four.  Newman's final trey with 51 seconds remaining proved to be the dagger for the RiverHawks, with the Jets breaking a 66-66 tie.  

Despite shooting the ball overwhelmingly better than Newman, the RiverHawks couldn't keep them off the free-throw line.  Newman scored 29 points, a season-high for a team facing NSU, and was 82.9-percent at the stripe. 

"We weren't able to get a stop down the stretch; I think we made one defensive stop in the final five minutes," said head coach Ja Havens.  "They [Newman] got to the free-throw line repeatedly; we had a hard time keeping them off the foul line...credit to them for making all those free throws.  They were 29 for 35. That's pretty good but not good for us."

Brad Davis paced the RiverHawks in scoring for the fourth time this season with 13 points.  Trey Sampson had 12 but was limited to just one in the second half.   Obi Agu scored 11, and DeVonta Prince paced the bench with 11, which was also his career-high. 

Troy Locke had eight points and led the team with career-high nine rebounds.  As a team, NSU trailed the Jets 34-to-32 on the glass. 

The RiverHawks made 25 of their 53 shots from the field, while Newman (3-16, 3-16 MIAA) shot 21-for-55. 

Newman's Joel Boyce paced both teams on the court with 22 points off the bench.

Thursday's loss drops NSU to 2-15 overall (2-15 MIAA).

Northeastern State heads south on I35 and will face rivals Central Oklahoma on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. The contest is the first of two games between the two programs, with Central visiting NSU on the next day at 3:30 p.m. 

NOTABLES — Second time this season that the RiverHawks wore their green uniforms … Sampson recorded his 12th double-digit game of the season … the RiverHawks are 1-3 this season when out-shooting their foe … the loss snapped a four-game winning streak for the RiverHawks against Newman … NSU does hold the series lead 7-2 but are now 1-2 at Newman … head coach Ja Havens returned to the sidelines for the first time since Jan. 30 due to COVID-19 protocols.