By Terry Douglass
terry.douglass@theindependent.com

With leading scorers Drake Beranek and Jeff Martin limited to a combined 14 points, UNK made three key defensive plays in the final two minutes and pulled out a hard-fought 71-67 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference victory over the Cougars at the Health and Sports Center.

After the Lopers (10-10, 8-4 RMAC) opened the season 4-8, Kropp said it would've been difficult imagine his young team being able to prevail in such circumstances.

"I would not say that this team has turned the corner because when you say that, then Metro (State) comes in here (Saturday) and beats you by 20 and you say, 'Oh whatever,'" said Kropp, whose team has won six of its last eight games. "I will say this: We're playing a heck of a lot better now than we did the first half of the season."

UNK's most noticeable area of improvement showed up huge in the final two minutes. Freshman guard Garrett Lever converted a steal into a three-point play, Martin stripped the ball away in the paint to create a turnover and 6-foot-9 sophomore center Josiah Parker blocked a point-blank shot attempt by CCU's 6-11 Justin Neuhaus.

The trio of standout defensive efforts, a 3-pointer by Beranek with one minute to play, two free throws by Martin and another by Lever in the final 28 seconds turned UNK's 65-63 deficit into a four-point win. Lever hit the second of two free throws to all but clinch the victory with nine seconds remaining.

Jeremy Cruise, a 5-11 freshman guard from St. Edward, said the defensive improvement is no accident. After giving up 18 layups in a loss prior to the holiday break, UNK's coaching staff turned two-hour practices into defense-only affairs.

"We've been doing a drill called 'perfect 45' where if you don't get the stop, you set the clock back at 45 (seconds) and you keep going until you get it," Cruise said. "The very first time we did it, my group was in there for about 45 minutes and you don't get a break at all unless the coaches start talking.

"Those drills just sort of help us."

The Cougars (11-8, 9-3) entered the contest shooting 46 percent from 3-point range and led the RMAC in treys attempted. With that in mind, the Lopers opted to try and shut down the perimeter attack and make Brain Stamer do most of the work.

Stamer did finish with 26 points and Neuhaus had 18 points and 15 rebounds, but CCU was just 1-of-11 from beyond the 3-point arc. No other Cougar scored more than seven points.

On the other hand, UNK found a way to win when the Cougars were able to shut down the Lopers' two biggest offensive weapons. Beranek, who entered the game as NCAA Division II's No. 5 scorer at 21 points a game, was shut out in the first half and finished with a season-low five points. Martin had nine points on 2-of-15 shooting.

"In the beginning of the year, if Jeff Martin and Drake Beranek didn't have huge games, we weren't close," Kropp said. "Now, if you look at the stat sheet tonight, neither Jeff or Drake had a huge game, but Garrett stepped up, Jeremy stepped up, Josiah made some plays for us, so we've had some kids improve."

Cruise led the way, scoring 22 points on the strength of 6-of-13 shooting from 3-point range. Lever added 17 points, seven steals and six assists and Parker finished with 13 points.

"They were going to let me shoot and not let Jeff and Drake beat them," Cruise said. "I knew I was going to get my shots. I just had to knock them down."

Kropp said UNK has now has won five of its last six games that he felt were decided in the final five minutes. This comes after starting the season 1-4 in such contests.

"I think when we lost four of those first five, we were just hoping we would get lucky (down the stretch)," Kropp said. "Now, the kids are competing harder, they're becoming a little bit more hard-nosed and I think that's been a big factor."

Cruise said the Lopers are simply starting to mature.

"I think we're finally starting to play more together as a team," Cruise said. "At the beginning of the year, a lot of people said we were young. We've played 20 games now, so we're not really young anymore."

NEB.-KEARNEY 71, COLO. CHRISTIAN 67

COLO. CHRISTIAN (11-8, 9-3)

Long 2-6 2-2 7, Morgan 2-9 0-0 4, Puckett 2-2 0-0 4, Stamer 12-20 2-4 26, Neuhaus 8-14 2-3 18, Olson 1-3 0-0 2, Bailey 3-6 0-0 6, Long 0-0 0-0 0, House 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 30-60 6-9 67.

NEB.-KEARNEY (10-10, 8-4)

Lever 5-13 6-7 17, Cruise 7-16 2-2 22, Martin 2-15 4-4 9, Beranek 2-5 0-0 5, Parker 4-6 5-5 13, Cooney 0-0 0-0 0, McCullough 2-4 1-1 5. Totals 22-59 18-19 71.

Halftime UNK 30, CCU 26. 3-point goals CCU 1-11 (Long 1-4, Morgan 0-4, Olson 0-2, Bailey 0-1), UNK 9-25 (Lever 1-3, Cruise 6-13, Martin 1-7, Beranek 1-2). Fouled out None. Rebounds CCU 41 (Neuhaus 15), UNK 29 (Parker 6). Assists CCU 15 (Morgan 4), UNK 17 (Lever 6). Turnovers CCU 20, UNK 12. Total fouls CCU 16, UNK 11. Technicals None. A 1,095.

* WOMEN

Neb.-Kearney 93,

Colo. Christian 57

KEARNEY Jade Meads scored a game-high 23 points while teammates Amy Mathis and Megan Becker both recorded double-doubles as Nebraska-Kearney topped the 90-point plateau for the third time in four games in a blowout win over Colorado Christian.

Meads was 10-of-13 from the field to lead the offensive attack for the Lopers (17-5, 10-2 RMAC). UNK shot 58.6 percent on its way to a 47-24 halftime lead and finished at 54.4 percent from the field.

Mathis, who made 4-of-6 attempts from 3-point range, had 18 points and 10 rebounds and Becker had 11 points and 13 rebounds. Melissa Hinkley (18 points and eight rebounds) and Kaitlin Petri (13 points) also scored in double figures for the Lopers, who host Metro State (Colo.) Saturday afternoon in a key conference matchup.

Talmai Aguirre scored 14 points to lead Colorado Christian (10-13, 6-6), which shot just 33.9 percent. Teammate Ainsley Barratt added 11 points.

NEB.-KEARNEY 93, COLO. CHRISTIAN 57

COLO. CHRISTIAN (10-13, 6-6)

Krall 3-5 2-2 8, Davis 1-9 4-6 6, Barratt 4-8 3-4 11, Rosenthal 3-8 0-0 6, Aguirre 4-12 3-6 14, Braasch 1-3 0-0 3, Finley 1-5 0-0 2, Verbitsky 0-0 0-1 0, Chase 0-2 0-0 0, Valdez 0-1 1-2 1, Bray 3-6 0-0 6. Totals 20-59 13-21 57.

NEB.-KEARNEY (17-5, 10-2)

Schuppe 1-4 2-4 4, Mathis 6-11 2-2 18, Hinkley 7-9 4-6 18, Meads 10-13 3-5 23, Becker 5-15 1-2 11, Peterson 0-1 0-0 0, Petri 5-8 1-1 13, Nelsen 2-4 0-0 4, Mildenberger 1-3 0-0 2. Totals 37-68 13-20 93.

Halftime UNK 47, CCU 24. 3-point goals CCU 4-13 (Davis 0-1, Barratt 0-1, Aguirre 3-7, Braasch 1-3, Finley 0-1), UNK 6-12 (Mathis 4-6), Petri 2-4, Nelsen 0-1, Mildenberger 0-1). Fouled out None. Rebounds CCU 33 (Barratt, Bray 5), UNK 48 (Becker 13). Assists CCU 11 (Krall, Davis, Valdez 3), UNK 22 (Schuppe 5). Turnovers CCU 23, UNK 17. Total fouls CCU 18, UNK 20. Technicals None. A 867.