MADISON REIBER
reibermj@lopers.unk.edu
The Lopers finished the season in the first round of MIAA tournament, turned back by Pittsburg State in overtime. UNK fought to the bitter end, but couldn’t close the gap, losing by a final of 79-76.
“I am proud of what our team accomplished this year, unfortunately, we fell short in the conference tournament vs Pittsburg State University,” said coach Kevin Lofton. “At times we played really well on both offense and defense however, we were not able to sustain it and fell short losing in overtime.”
The Lopers had a comfortable lead with 11:40 left in the game but went on a dry spell of five minutes without scoring, missing seven critical shots down the stretch.
“It was a tough game to lose,” senior Morgan Soucie said. “We felt like we played better than them for most of the game but we just kind of slipped up in the end and made too many mistakes. We had a great season and it sucks to go out like that.”
This game was a close match with stats that favored each team in different areas. UNK lead with a 44% field goal percentage barely edging out Pittsburg’s 43%.
The real downfall for the Lopers was on the boards. UNK was outrebounded by 12.
“They did manhandle us on the boards” Coach Lofton stated.
With only three mins left the Gorillas sunk a deep three-pointer followed by a missed shot by UNK.
Jah-Kobe Womack with 2:00 tied things up at 68 apiece. The Lopers proceeded to miss the next four shots in the final mins to seal their fate.
The leader of this game was Morgan Soucie (Osawatomie, Kansas) with 26 points and eight rebounds in the paint.
Guard Jake Walker (Centerville, Utah) had 13 points and a 33% field goal percentage. AJ Jackson (Bellevue, Nebraska) also chipped in 12 points and Kyle Juhl (Harlan, Iowa) had nine.
In all senses of the word, 2019-2020 was a success for the UNK men’s basketball program. After going 10-18 last season, the majority of the starting rotation left the program. Things looked bleak for the team, but they never gave up and fought to the bitter end of this season.
“I am very proud of our seniors and the leadership that they provided throughout the season, I felt that they helped reestablish our programs culture and identity,” said Lofton.
