UNK Heads to Chadron State Tuesday Night
Kearney, Neb. – Super seniors Jordan Janssen and Nate Mohr combined for 46 points and Wayne State used a late run to get past Nebraska Kearney, 77-67, Saturday afternoon at the Health & Sports Center. The Wildcats improve to 3-1 while UNK is now 2-3. The Lopers have just one game next week, a Tuesday night road affair at Chadron State (0-3). A veteran Wayne team was picked second in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conf. (NSIC) preseason poll. UNK already battled the NSIC's preseason number one team, Minnesota-Duluth, and fell by just a 78-72 score. Still minus forward Ryder Kirsch (Rapid City, SD) and guard Braden Boley (Parker, Colo.) due to injury, the young Lopers trailed for 27 minutes today but had three score in double figures and was plus seven on the glass to more than hang around. UNK led by five points on three separate occasions midway through the second half, only to see the 'Cats knock down two threes and sink two freebies in response. A putback bucket by sophomore forward Sean Murphy (New Zealand) with 6:03 left gave UNK its last lead of the day at 63-62. Wayne followed with an 11-0 run over the next five minutes that included a bucket by Janssen and a three by Mohr. UNK's possessions during this time resulted in four missed shots and a turnover. "We got Darrian (Nebeker) in good position three different times and just came up a little bit short. That hurt us and then Janssen was either at the free throw line or scoring it around the basket," said UNK head coach Kevin Lofton. A three-time All-NSIC selection, Janssen had 14 of his game-high 25 points in the second half. He also grabbed nine rebounds (four offensive), had five assists, two steals and drew 13 fouls. By himself, he put several Lopers into foul trouble. "We turned it over too much and they got to the foul line more than we did. Even down the stretch, that was the basketball game," said Lofton. " Next, Mohr had 21 thanks to 5 of 11 three-point shooting with 6-3 sophomore guard Justin Eagins tallying 13 on three triples. Wayne out shot UNK from the arc by 15 percentage points and tallied 21 points off 17 turnovers. "The short bench hurts us. Ryder is one of our taller players at six-seven and one of our most skilled players. Not having him really hurts us. He's a guy that's going to play 30, 35 minutes a game," said Lofton. "Luckily, we got Sean Evans back but even then, we're short in the one position where we needed the most help today." Nebeker had a team-high 18 points, all in the second half, on 7 of 16 shooting. He also had six boards and three dimes in working around four fouls. Murphy pulled down a game-best 11 rebounds with Colorado sophomores Sean Evans (10) and Tom Connelly (11) combining for 21 points thanks to five treys. "I'm proud of our guys. We've been right there (at the end) but when you're playing a lot of sophomores some of those turnovers come from sophomore mistakes. They are in pressure situations they aren't used to being in," said Lofton. "They need to make a play but they aren't there yet. We’ll get them there.”
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