Box Score Kearney, Neb. – The Nebraska-Kearney men's basketball team shot 57% from the field and had six players score in double figures to grind out a 87-78 win over Colorado-Colorado Springs Saturday night at the Health & Sports Center.

UNK (15-10, 13-8 RMAC) remains in contention to host an RMAC Tournament first round game on February 28th while the Mountain Lions (7-19, 6-14 RMAC) drop a 10th game in a row.

During its current losing streak, UCCS has been in most contests and nothing changed tonight as UNK led most of the way but needed a second half run to finally feel comfortable.

Up 12 at one point in the first half, the Lopers went into the locker room with only a 39-35 cushion. Behind the play of junior guard Jake Darby (game-high 26 points), the Mountain Lions kept the deficit under five points for the first seven minutes of the second half.

That's when UNK made a move, getting back-to-back dunks from freshman forward Tyler Shields (Kearney H.S.) to start a decisive 9-2 run.

Shields showed off his versatility during this stretch as he picked the pocket of UCCS guard George Pollard and raced down the court for his second straight jam.

After the Lions made a bucket, Shields hit a three from the top of the key to give UNK a 61-51 lead with 11:59 to play. Senior forward Chris Deans (Hemingford) followed with a layup to cap the run.

The Lopers kept a lead of eight points the rest of the way as they managed to make 30 of 53 shots (56.6%), including a 7 of 11 effort from behind the arc. As usual, UNK was solid at the line (20 of 28) and they also out rebounded a much smaller UCCS team by double digits, 34-24.

Individually, Shields followed up his 19 point, 13 rebound effort Friday night by scoring a season-high 21 on 9 of 12 shooting. He also had five rebounds and that one key steal in 34 minutes.

Fellow first year forward Ethan Brozek (Norfolk Catholic) had another big weekend as he went for 14 points, five boards and four blocks. He also had 13 rebounds Friday vs. CSU-Pueblo, in addition to 17 points.

Finally, Deans had 12 points and six rebounds with guards Akeem Morissaint (Delray Beach, Fla.) and Tim Billingsley (Parker, Colo.) coming off the bench to combine for 23 points, eight assists and five rebounds.

Darby carried UCCS early on and reached his point total by making 11 of 17 field goals (1 of 3 threes). Fellow starter Darius Pardner got hot down the stretch and ended up with 20 points. As a team, UCCS shot a solid 53.7% (29 of 54) from the field but their 15 turnovers led to 26 points for UNK.

The Lopers finish up the regular season next Saturday at Chadron State.