That was evident Wednesday night as Cruise scored a career-high 22 points to help the Lopers beat Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference East Division leader Colorado Christian 71-67 at the UNK Health and Sports Center.

In a game where the Cougars did an excellent job of limiting Nebraska-Kearney's two best offensive weapons Drake Beranek and Jeff Martin combined for just 14 points Cruise provided the answer for the Lopers. The 5-foot-11, 170-pound freshman walk-on from St. Edward did most of his damage from behind the 3-point arc, hitting 6-of-13 attempts.

It was a role Cruise savored.

"I like that," Cruise said. "That's sort of what I do is shoot threes."

That's no surprise to anyone who has followed Cruise in the prep ranks at St. Edward. He finished his high school career as the state's No. 3 all-time leader in 3-pointers with 262, trailing only 1996 Grand Island Central Catholic graduate C.J. Cowgill (284) and 1999 Filley/Freeman graduate Shane Ideus (269).

"Jeremy Cruise is the third all-time leading 3-point shooter in the history of Nebraska high school basketball, so he has a lot of confidence in the 3-point shot and he can shoot a (good) percentage," UNK co-coach Tom Kropp said. "So him going 6-for-13, it's not like we're going, 'Wow, that's amazing,' because we see it every day in practice."

In a season where Nebraska-Kearney's guards have been plagued by injuries, Cruise has been the right man at the right time for the Lopers, who have won six of their last eight games to reach the .500 mark at 10-10. Cruise has started 12 of 20 contests, averaging 28 minutes and 7.6 points per game while ranking third on the squad with 36 3-pointers.

"Jeremy has not only helped us (Wednesday night), but he's helped us throughout the year at different times," Kropp said. "(Wednesday night) was by far the best game he's had, but he's had some other pretty decent games before."

Interestingly, Cruise appeared set to begin his college basketball career at Nebraska Wesleyan until late last summer. Then came a sudden change of heart.

"The month before school was going to start, I was going to Wesleyan and I just decided it really wasn't the place for me," Cruise said.

So Cruise approached Kropp and fellow UNK co-coach Kevin Lofton about the possibility of walking on. It just so happened that the Loper roster was thin, especially at the guard position.

"They said it would be great, that they had nine players right then and I'd be 10," Cruise said. "They said if I could prove myself, they'd maybe give me a scholarship or whatever. As of right now, there's no scholarship, but I'm still working and we'll see what's going to happen next year."

More performances like Cruise had Wednesday night certainly won't hurt his cause.

"We're tremendously happy to have Jeremy here," Kropp said.