WICHITA, Kan. – The Rogers State men's basketball team fell victim to a hot-shooting Newman Jets team in an 89-78 loss in Heartland Conference play on Thursday (Jan. 4) night at Fugate Gymnasium.

The Jets (6-7, 3-0) took a five-point edge at 19-14 and pushed the margin out to 31-14 with a 12-0 run in less than three minutes during the latter part of the first half. Newman used the spurt to take a 44-28 lead into halftime.

Newman shot 57.1 percent (16-28) from the field in the first half to build the advantage. The Jets hit 58.3 percent (7-12) from 3.

In the second half, Newman held a double digit advantage for the majority of the 20 minutes and extended the edge to 19 points, the largest lead of the game, at 76-57 with 5:35 remaining.

The Hillcats (9-5, 0-2) tried to rally late and trailed by only seven points after a Tate Turner jumper with 1:32 left. After a turnover from Newman, Turner had a chance to cut the deficit to only four points with a 3, but his shot hit off the back iron, and the Jets made free throws to close out the game.

Baron Smith Jr. posted a team-high 20 points and three assists. Three other Hillcats hit double digits with Turner pouring in 18 points. Saint Hilaire barely missed out a double-double with 14 points and a team-high nine rebounds. Tavian Davis added 10 points, but fouled out midway through the second half.

For the game, Newman shot 51 percent (25-49) from the field and 45.5 percent (10-22) from 3. Ben Ayre scored a game-high 23 points as five Jets tallied double figures.

RSU finished at 43.3 percent (26-60) from the field after shooting 51.5 percent in the second half.

The Hillcats are right back in action on Saturday in Claremore against Dallas Baptist University at 2 p.m. inside the Claremore Expo Center. Follow the action on the Hillcat Network at http://www.rsuhillcats.com/live.