Rogers State men’s basketball (9-5, 5-3 MIAA) took an 84-77 victory over Newman (5-9, 1-7 MIAA) on Thursday.
Three Hillcats finished in double-digits in the win. Sherwyn Devonish-Prince Jr. led RSU with a new career-high of 26 points with six assists, five rebounds and a steal. Joey Saracco finished just two points shy of his career-high with 24 points, seven rebounds, a block and a steal. Chris Whitaker added 13 points with five rebounds. Kofi Hamilton contributed 10 rebounds with five points.
The Hillcats stumbled out of the gate early as Newman dashed out to a 10-4 run to open the game. However, RSU began to find its footing and ripped off an 8-1 run of their own to take their first lead at 18-17. After going back and forth with four lead changes in four-straight possessions, the Hillcats began to build out their margin to its largest of the half at 32-25 with six minutes left in the period. They were able to hold that lead for the remainder of the half and carried a 40-33 advantage into the break.
Five quick points to start the second half gave RSU a 45-33 lead. However, the Jets refused to go down as they kept battling and were able to trim the deficit down to seven points multiple times early in the period. The Hillcats kept bouncing back though and eventually took their largest lead of the game at 67-53 with 9:32 left. Once again Newman was able to get back in the game and cut the lead to just five points at 79-74 with under two minutes remaining. Unfortunately for the Jets, foul trouble would short-circuit the comeback as Chris Whitaker made five-straight free throws down the stretch to seal the 84-77 victory.
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