Kearney, Neb. – The Nebraska-Kearney men's basketball team has its final two home games of the year when Central Missouri (Thursday) and Lincoln (Saturday) come to town this weekend.

UNK (7-10; .475 scheduling points) is aiming to make the eight-team MIAA Tournament which starts the first week of March. This year that event will be held on campus sites with the top seeds hosting. The Lopers are right behind Fort Hays State and Emporia State (both 9-9; .564 points), who are currently in the eighth and ninth spots, and Emporia State (8-9; .431 points). Right behind UNK is Central Missouri (6-12; .430 points).

UCM visits Thursday at 7:30 p.m. with the LU Blue Tigers (10-8; .608 points) here Saturday at 4 p.m. Those not in attendance this weekend can catch the action via The MIAA Network or on KRVN radio (93.1 FM/106.9 FM). The Loper Senior Class will be honored Saturday and consists of Austin Luger (Alliance), Sam Morris (Lincoln Southeast), RJ Pair (The Colony, Texas), and Jake Walker (Centerville, Utah).

Back in January the Lopers beat the Mules, 72-69, in Warrensburg. Luger (21 points, 12 rebounds & five assists) had a monster effort with three others in double figures. UNK got out to a 41-29 halftime lead before holding on for one of its three road wins. By contrast UCM is 1-8 away from home.

A balanced Mule attack features four in double digits including 6-4 senior guard Koray Gilbert (12.9) and Division I transfer Cameron Hunter (12.3). Hunter made seven free throws and two threes to tally a team-best 19 points off the bench in the loss to UNK with the Mules having solid field goal (45.1) and free throw (74.5) percentages on the year.

Lincoln, at Hays Thursday and with a 2-6 road mark, has four in double figures as well. One of those is mid-year transfer Derrick Woods (13.0) who wasn't on the roster when the Blue Tigers slipped past the Lopers, 67-60, in early January.

Post Sai Witt (16.6 points & 8.7 rebounds pg) is a load in the paint with 6-4 junior guard Quinton Drayton at a team-best 16.8 points a night. Drayton and Witt both tallied 13 points in the win over UNK, a game in which the Lopers fell behind by seven at the break. Luger (26 points) had another strong effort but UNK didn't get closer than three points in the second half.

Now 7-6 in games decided by 10 points or less, UNK has had plus eight rebounding margins in each of its last two games. On the year, the Lopers have out rebounded its opponent eight times. Luger (5.8), Utah junior Darrian Nebeker (5.2) and Bellevue sophomore Cedric Johnson (5.1) lead in board work with Johnson grabbing 14 caroms last Thursday at Northeastern State and Nebeker having 15 Saturday at Rogers State.

Nebeker has had the hot hand of late, reaching double digits in three straight contests. Having a total of 53 points in those games, he is almost shooting 50 percent (49.6) from the field while being one of five Lopers between 30-43 assists. Kearney is fourth in the MIAA in assists per game (14.2) and has a 1.1 assist-to-turnover ratio.

UNK heads to defending national champion Northwest Missouri State (17-1) and Missouri Western State (0-8) next weekend.