Box Score Kearney, Neb. – Four starters scored in double figures and Nebraska-Kearney shot 60 percent from the field to beat Missouri Western State, 85-66, Saturday evening in St. Joseph.
The Lopers (10-8, 7-6) pick up their third road win with the Griffons (6-13, 4-9) dropping to 6-5 at home.
Leading for most of night, UNK was 28 of 47 from the floor, including an 8 of 15 effort from the three point line. In a close loss Thursday night at Northwest Missouri State, the Lopers made 56 percent of its shots.
Missouri Western State hung around, thanks to 56 percent shooting in the first half. However, the Griffons cooled in the second half (1 of 10 threes) as UNK held a double digit lead for the final seven minutes.
"Our sense of urgency wasn't there last week. We tried to stress to our team that the two things you can control is your attitude and effort," said UNK head coach
Kevin Lofton. "Both of those things were better this week and I think we got some respect back. We played together on both ends of the floor tonight."
The teams combined for just 15 turnovers with Mo West having a plus two rebounding margin, 28-26. UNK did go 21 of 26 at the line with the Griffons attempting only 18 free throws.
Individually, Ravenna senior
Connor Beranek scored a game-high 24 by making 8 of 11 shots (1 of 1 threes). He also had three rebounds, two assists and two steals. Next, Norfolk senior post
Ethan Brozek was 7 of 11 from the floor and 7 of 8 at the line to score 21 with Iowa sophomore
Trey Lansman having three of UNK's eight threes to tally 15.
Finally, Pierce sophomore
Lane Rohrich made four shots to score 12 with Kansas junior guard
Josh Sweet scoring nine off the bench.
"Ethan and Connor really established themselves in the first half," said Lofton. "Josh (Sweet) then came in and hit some threes in the second half."
Fiji native Mataika Koyamainavure, a 6-8, 240 pound forward, came off the bench to lead Mo West. In 21 minutes, he made 8 of 10 shots to tally 17.
UNK is at Wayne State Tuesday night. The game was originally set for November 30
th but postponed due to weather.
