Box Score Kearney, Neb. – Five players scored in double figures as the Nebraska-Kearney men's basketball team held off Missouri Southern State, 83-78, Thursday night in Joplin, Mo.
UNK (15-8, 11-6) pushes its win streak to six straight and sweeps the season series from the Lions (14-10, 11-7). The Lopers are now tied with Lindenwood for second place in the MIAA standings.
Back in December, Kearney beat MSSU by a 113-100 score. The Lopers led that game by 30 points before the Lions cut the deficit to 10.
Tonight, UNK shot 69% in the first half, 31 percentage points better than Missouri Southern, to lead 45-29 at the break. The lead grew to 55-35 before the Lions made their move.
A three by senior guard Austin Wright cut the Loper lead to four, 58-54, with 8:29 to play. UNK countered by scoring the next six points but MSSU came back again, getting a layup from sophomore guard Charlie Brown to make it 79-75 with 36 seconds left.
Following a Kearney turnover, a three from Division II's leading scorer, senior wing Taevaunn Prince, made it 79-78. York sophomore
Ty Danielson sunk two free throws with 28 seconds to go but Southern still had a chance to tie.
However, a three from senior guard DJ Feitl misfired and Ravenna senior
Connor Beranek made two more free throws to finish the scoring.
UNK ended the night making 57% (27 of 47) of its shots, its third highest percentage of the season. The Lopers also had less than 10 turnovers (seven) for a seventh straight game.
A balanced attack was led by Beranek, who finished with a team-high 28 points on 9 of 16 (1 of 1 threes) shooting. Making 9 of his 10 free throws, he also provided eight rebounds (six defensive), three assists and two steals.
Next, Norfolk senior post
Ethan Brozek had 15 points, eight boards and four assists with Iowa sophomore forward
Trey Lansman at 17 points and three rebounds. Finally among the starters, Danielson had a big first half and ended with 13 points and three assists.
Off the bench, Omaha junior guard
Kevin Dineen went 8 of 8 at the line to have 10 points, three off his career high.
Prince haunted the Lopers again, going for 30 points by making 11 of 18 shots. In the last three games vs. UNK, he's scored 94 points. Also for MSSU, Brown went 10 of 13 from the floor to score 22.
On Saturday afternoon, UNK is at Pittsburg State. The Gorillas beat Fort Hays State tonight, 101-92, to improve to 13-11 (8-10).
