Box Score Kearney, Neb. – Junior forward Connor Beranek scored 25 points and the Nebraska Kearney men's basketball team used a big second half to beat Northeastern State, 71-60, Thursday night in Tahlequah, Okla.
 
The Lopers improve to 17-8 (12-6) and are just one win away from receiving a first round bye in the 2015 MIAA Tournament. UNK is at Central Oklahoma Saturday afternoon to close out the regular season.
 
NSU (6-19, 4-14), dressing just nine players and with only one standing taller than 6-6, led most of the first half and held a lead on the glass at the break.
 
Kearney, however, closed the half on an 8-3 run to lead by three at the intermission and then started the final 20 minutes on a 19-6 spurt. Eleven of those 27 Loper points came from Beranek (Ravenna).
 
"We knew they were going to play a zone and stay in it whether we scored or not. In the first half, we got a lot of open shots but we struggled to make our threes," said UNK co-head coach Tom Kropp. "In the second half, we got the ball to the high post, dropped it down low and started to get some shots in the paint."
 
The RiverHawks, with eight different players in the scoring column, did get the deficit down to 59-50. However, a three-point play from Beranek swung the momentum back to the Blue & Gold.
 
UNK had a season-high 12 blocks but also tied a season-high in turnovers (19) and shot a season-low 58.3% (14 of 24) at the line. Kearney did come back to win the rebounding battle, 41-40.
 
Now with 979 points as a Loper, Beranek reached his total by sinking 9 of 17 shots (4 of 9 threes). In two games vs. NSU this season, he went 12 of 21 from behind the arc; in the other 23 games, Beranek is 21 of 57 from triple land.
 
Next, freshman Trey Lansman (Harlan, Ia.) stuffed the stat sheet with 19 points, eight rebounds (three offensive) and six blocks. His second highest point total of the year, he was 7 of 9 from the floor and 5 of 7 at the line.
 
Finally, Junior Ethan Brozek (Norfolk Catholic H.S.) now has 996 points in a Kearney uniform as he tallied 12 while also pulling down eight rebounds. He'll be the 40^th Loper to reach four figures in points come Saturday.
 
A balanced 'Hawks attack was led by reserve Dakota Caudill who had 14 points in 17 minutes of work.
 
UCO (18-9, 11-7) needed overtime to beat Fort Hays State Thursday, 76-69.