Box Score Kearney, Neb. – Junior forward Ethan Brozek tied his career-high of 30 points and the Nebraska Kearney men's basketball team made 40 free throws to hold off Hastings College, 94-86, Monday night at the Health & Sports Center.
 
This was the 190th meeting between the two schools with UNK improving to 6-2 and the Broncos falling to 6-8.
 
Hastings scored the first two points but never led again. The Lopers moved ahead by scores of 19-6 and 28-14 only to see the Broncos catch fire late in the first half to trail 43-35 at the break.
 
In a game with 58 fouls and 73 free throw attempts, UNK built its lead back to 14 early in the second half but the Broncos came back once again, thanks to the hot shooting of Tobin Reinwald (26 points).
 
Ahead 53-50 at the 14:44 mark, UNK went on a 14-3 run to open up another 14 point lead. The spurt featured 10 made free throws and two field goals.
 
Hastings hung around but still trailed by 14 points with just 2:03 left. That's when Brandon Krause went nuclear, scoring seven points in 17 seconds to suddenly make it a seven-point game, 84-77. He then stole the ball and that led to a bucket by Reinwald.
 
The Loper starters returned to the court and, not surprisingly, knocked down a bunch of free throws to seal the deal. The 40 makes are the third most in school history with the 50 attempts ranking fifth in Loper lore. 

Hastings finished 16 of 23 at the line while shooting 53.4% (31 of 58) from the field. The Lopers once again shot well, finishing at an even 50% (25 of 50).
 
"It was a lot more exciting then I wanted it to be. I was a little bit nervous there when they cut it to a five," said UNK co-head coach Tom Kropp. "I'm glad our starters were able to come back in and make some free throws and get some stops defensively."
 
Registering his fourth double double of the season, Brozek (Norfolk Catholic H.S.) went 16 of 21 at the line and 7 of 12 from the field. The 21 attempts are believed to be a new school record while Dusty Jura (2007) and Eric Strand (1997) also made 16 free throws in a game to set the UNK standard.
 
Playing 31 minutes, Brozek also had team-highs in rebounds (14), assists (four) and steals (three). His other 30 point effort came this year in the opener vs. Colorado Mines.
 
"Ethan did have a very good game tonight and he's having an outstanding season," said Kropp. "The other day, some of our fans came up and said Ethan is a combination of (All-Americans) Dusty Jura and Nick Svehla. That's pretty a high compliment."
 
Also for Kearney, Ravenna junior Connor Beranek went 11 of 13 at the line to score 23 with York freshman Ty Danielson hitting two of UNK's four threes to tally 11.
 
For the Broncos, Krause had 23 of his team-high 29 points in the second half. Fourteen of those second half points came in the last two minutes.
 
UNK is at Lindenwood Thursday night and Lincoln on Saturday afternoon.