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University of Nebraska - Kearney Athletics

Cedric Johnson
Corbey R. Dorsey
78
Winner Rogers St. RSU 22-5, 14-4
66
Neb.-Kearney UNKMBB 15-11, 9-8
Winner
Rogers St. RSU
22-5, 14-4
78
Final
66
Neb.-Kearney UNKMBB
15-11, 9-8
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Rogers St. RSU 40 38 78
Neb.-Kearney UNKMBB 16 50 66

Game Recap: Men's Basketball |

Nationally-Ranked RSU Holds off the Lopers, 78-66

Kearney, Neb. – The No. 37/23 Rogers State Hillcats had four starters score in double figures to hold off a furious Nebraska-Kearney rally, 78-66, Saturday evening at the Health & Sports Center.

This was the final home game for the Lopers (15-11, 9-8) in the 2019-20 season. Prior to tipoff seniors AJ Jackson (Bellevue West), Kyle Juhl (Harlan, Ia.), Morgan Soucie (Osawatomie, Kan.) and Chase Winchester (De Soto, Texas) were honored.

Rogers (22-5, 14-4) has now won 11 of its last 12 games, improves to 8-3 on the road and avenges a 62-58 to the Lopers back in January. The MIAA newcomers came in ranked seventh in the NCAA Central Region and in second place in the league standings.

It literally was a tale of two halves as UNK scored 16 points over the first 20 minutes as it was 4 of 23 (0 of 8 threes) from the field. The tables turned quickly as Kearney scored 50 after the break thanks to 15 of 24 (9 of 15 threes) shooting.

"They came out like a team that's ranked second in the conference and trying to salt away an at-large berth for the NCAA Tournament. We came out ice cold. We couldn't buy a basket and it showed and then it eventually started to show on the defensive end," UNK head coach Kevin Lofton said. "I challenged the guys at half to be the team we've talked about being all year long, the one that we've shown all year. They responded and made it interesting in the second half."

RSU, going 22 of 24 at the line, led 40-16 at the break and 48-18 with 16:57 left to play. That's when the tides turned as UNK outscored the 'Cats 37-11 over the next 14 minutes. Back-to-back triples from Bellevue redshirt freshman left reserve Cedric Johnson capped the long run and brought the Loper faithful to its feet.

The Hillcats and Lopers exchanged a couple of buckets with Johnson apparently nailing another three, this time from the left corner, to make it 63-60 with just over three minutes left. However UNK was called for a charge and Johnson's three was waived off. Rogers salted things away by going on a 6-0 run to push its lead back into double digits.

"We found a way to get the ball to go in (in the second half), particularly from the three-point line. Hitting nine threes in a half is going to help your cause a little bit," Lofton said. "I thought we defended at times a little bit better. We got some turnovers and that led put us into transition."

Out rebounding UNK 31-25 and having a 36-18 advantage in paint points, RSU was led by senior guards Marques Sumner (21 points, three boards, two assists and two steals) and Tavian Davis (13 points, six assists, three boards and one steal). Sumner had one of RSU's four threes with Davis having a couple of key buckets down the stretch.

Utah junior guard Jake Walker paced the Lopers as he made 9 of 10 free throws to score 19. He also hit two of UNK's nine threes. Next Juhl (12) and Winchester (11) reached double figures with Johnson and Alliance junior forward Austin Luger combining for 10 points, four boards and an assist coming off the bench.

"I'm proud of the guys for how they hung in there and at least gave themselves a chance," Lofton said.

The Lopers are at Newman (9-17, 3-14) next Thursday night and Central Oklahoma (9-17, 6-11) on Saturday afternoon to close out the regular season. 

 
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