Box Score Kearney, Neb. – Senior forward Connor Beranek had 35 points and 13 rebounds to help Nebraska-Kearney beat Missouri Southern State, 80-61, Saturday night at the MIAA Tournament semifinals in Kansas City, Mo.
 
The second-seeded Lopers (20-10) will face top-seed and No. 13 NW Missouri State Sunday at 3:30 p.m. for the tourney title. The Bearcats (24-5) beat fourth-seed Fort Hays State, 69-51, in the late game tonight. 
 
While the Lopers swept the season series from the third-seeded Lions (18-12), UNK remembers losing to Mo Southern the past two years in the MIAA Tournament quarters.
 
"Our guys knew the magnitude of this game. We were tired of getting sent home by them," said UNK assistant coach Ken Moses. "Connor played like a unanimous first-team player tonight."
 
Leading most of the way, Kearney saw Beranek have 14 points and 10 rebounds (all defensive) in the first half. The Lopers built a 35-23 halftime lead as they were 11 of 15 at the line while MSSU was just 2 of 2. The Lions came in averaging 25 free attempts per game.
 
UNK came out strong in the second half with a bucket by York sophomore guard Ty Danielson making it 43-26 with 16:52 to go. However, MSSU had a run in them, especially with Loper forwards Ethan Brozek (Norfolk Catholic H.S.) and Trey Lansman (Harlan, Ia.) in foul trouble.

 
With 11:31 to go, both Brozek and Lansman were on the bench with four fouls and the Loper lead was almost down to single digits at 50-40. After the Lopers built the advantage back to 17 points, the Lions came back once more, getting a tip-in from Greg Renfroe to make it 64-55 with 5:41 left.
 
Beranek, now with nine double doubles and nine 30-point efforts this winter, had three of his five dunks in the final 4:49 to help UNK reach a conference tourney final for the first time since 2006.
 
Going 12 of 18 from the field (1 of 2 threes) and 10 of 12 at the line, Beranek now has scored 732 points this season. He joins former professional players Bart Kofoed (902/'87), Nick Branting (734/'04) and Loren Killen (715'77) as the only Lopers to reach 700 points in a single season.
 
"Ethan has found me all year. He leads our team in assists, plays a high level and makes everyone around him better. That's a difference maker." said Beranek.
 
Limited to 27 minutes, Brozek finished with a team-high six assists, four rebounds (all defensive) and three points. Fouling out late, Lansman didn't score but helped limit Taevaunn Prince, Division II's leading scorer at 26 a night, to a 6 of 18 shooting effort and 15 total points.
 
"The stat sheet won't show it but Trey did an outstanding job tonight. I think he really bothered Prince," said Moses. "Kevin (Dineen) did a good job defensively on him too and also provided some offense. Our guards don't get a lot of pub but they all did a great job tonight and stepped up."
 
A night after scoring a career-best 24, Danielson tallied 17 in 39 minutes with Pierce sophomore guard Lane Rohrich adding 11 on three made buckets and a 5 of 5 effort at the line. Finally, junior reserve guards Kevin Dineen (eight) and Josh Sweet (six) combined to score 14 and grab four more defensive boards.
 
As a team, UNK shot 53% (27 of 51) from the field and 81% (21 of 26) at the line. The Lopers also had a plus six rebounding margin and had just six turnovers.
 
For Missouri Southern, reserve DJ Feitl had a team-best 19 points thanks to 4 of 5 three point shooting. Prince did grab 12 rebounds (11 defensive), giving him another double double.