In UNK’s final home weekend, the Lopers men’s basketball team split against two MIAA opponents defeating Missouri Southern 88-78 and falling to Pittsburg State 100-93.
After starting the year 1-7, this UNK team has grown together.
“They all just have each other’s backs,” said UNK coach Marty Levinson. “From the leading scorers on our team to the guys on the end of the bench they all have relationships with each other. They all respect each other and uplift each other. When you treat people well and the relationships make sense you are going to have energy at the end of the year like this.”
The Lopers are 9-8 in MIAA play and 11-14 overall. In the last two seasons UNK had only ten combined wins.
The Lopers are in position to make the MIAA tournament for the first time since the 2019-20 season. That was the last time UNK had a winning record going 10-9 in the MIAA and 16-12 overall that year.
On Saturday, the Lopers couldn’t get the offense going in the first half against Missouri Southern, shooting 11-30 from the field. Still, they only trailed by one at the half. At the 15-minute mark of the second half things flipped for the Lopers as they went on an 11-0 run to take a four-point lead.
After that the Lopers never trailed. This was UNK’s first win over Missouri Southern since December of 2017, breaking a nine-game losing streak.
The Lopers defense was a huge factor in getting the win racking up 12 steals, four by senior Trey Hepburn. UNK also outscored Missouri Southern 26-6 in points off turnovers.
UNK willed their way to victory.
“I always start with defense,” said UNK guard Allen Taylor. “I figured that we had to dig deep towards the end. At this time of year anything can happen. The team that’s the freshest and that wants it more is most likely going to come out with the W.”
The Lopers were led by Taylor with 24 points and eight rebounds. Junior Ja’Bryant Hill had 18 points while going 10-12 from the free throw line, while junior Kendrick Gilbert added 16 points and sophomore Taylor Harrell had 11 points.
On Thursday, UNK went up against Pittsburg State, the second-place team in the MIAA. It was a shootout from the Health and Sports Center. The teams combined for 119 points in the second half.
Jordan Frison led Pittsburg State with 26 points and a school record 18 assists. UNK was led by Taylor with 29 points.
UNK will finish out the regular season with back-to-back games against playing Fort Hays State on Wednesday and Saturday.
