UNK MBB: Lopers Fall On The Road At Pitt State
Senior wing Deshaun English II had a double double and four others reached double figures to help Pittsburg State hold off Nebraska Kearney, 90-76, Thursday night in Kansas.
The Gorillas (8-5, 4-3) have won six of their last seven games while the Lopers (5-9, 2-7) have dropped four in a row. These two will meet again Feb. 24 on Buckle Court.
UNK threw up 50 points after the break, started the half on an 8-0 run and whittled a 20-point hole to 11 on six different occasions. However, a balanced and taller Pitt team had an answer each time to beat the Lopers in Kansas for a second straight winter.
“I told them I was proud of their second half but when you get down in this league like that, it’s hard to come back,” said UNK interim head coach Antoine Young. “If we play 40 minutes like that, we probably win the game.”
Freshman guard D’Aundre Samuels (Denver East) led the comeback by having 16 of his team-high 18 points after the intermission. He made 5 of 8 shots and went 5 of 6 at the line over the final 20 minutes while also drawing four fouls and having two assists.
“We’re right there. If we can play that type of basketball for the entire game, we’ll beat some teams in this league,” said Young. “Once D’Aundre gets going, he’s pretty good for us.”
Colorado junior guard Sean Evans went over 800 career points tonight (811) as he had 10 of his 12 in the second half. He finished 5 of 9 from the field and added four assists. Next, New Zealand junior forward Sean Murphy got close to another double double (16 points, nine boards) with junior southpaws Damiri Lindo (14) and Taden King (13) combining for 27 points. They both made five shots and went 2 of 2 at the line.
“We wanted to play faster in the second half. We finally started guarding and that’s how we were able to get out and run,” said Young.
The MIAA’s leading scorer, sophomore guard Max Alexander (20.2), had 16 on 6 of 13 (2 of 4 threes) shooting for Pitt. Next, true freshman guard Jordan Frison had 11 of his team-high 17 in the first half as the Gorillas outshot the Lopers by 20 percentage points. Finally, English II had 12 points and 10 rebounds (all defensive) with Division I transfers Jeramy Shaw (Detroit Mercy) and Tanner Mans (VMI) combining for 29 points, six rebounds, six assists and two steals. This group helped Pitt close the first half on a 20-8 run to lead by a 46-26 count.
“First five possessions of the game we got stops and then had good possessions offensively. And then, for whatever reason, we stopped doing the things that are good to us. We don’t like the things that are good to us right now,” said Young.
The Lopers face Missouri Southern Saturday afternoon. The Lions (5-9, 3-5) fell tonight to nationally-ranked Fort Hays State, 85-67.
