Aggies Jarred by Jets
The Newman Jets put up two wins over the OPSU men's and women's teams Saturday afternoon; Tatyana Bell led the Aggie women with 18 points.—Alyssa Kinser photo

Aggies Jarred by Jets

Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 Goodwell, Okla.—There was snow on the ground outside the Oscar Williams Field House Saturday afternoon, but inside the court was hot with action as the OPSU men's and women's basketball teams met with the Newman Jets who put the burn on the Aggies winning both games by a combined 57 points.

The women's team made a game of it through the first three periods, down just seven points (40-47) with ten minutes still to play; but the Lady Jets outscored the Aggies 23-13 in the fourth quarter and took their second Heartland Conference win by a score of 70-53.

While the Aggies led in the paint 30-24, the Lady Jets bested them beyond the arc getting away with five of 13 three-point attempts. The Aggies landed just one of four outside shots and went 0-2 through the first three periods; Tatyana Bell put up the only three for OPSU in the opening minute of the fourth quarter. Bell went on to lead the Aggies in scoring with 18 total points; she went 7-11 from the field and 3-4 at the line. Brittany Alavinejad added 11 points for the Aggies and Kietta Saunders contributed four assists.

The Jets turned the ball over 11 times in the game and, although the Aggies had one less turnover with ten, Newman outscored OPSU on points off turnovers 14-8. The Jets also outgained the Aggies in second chance points 13-5 off ten offensive rebounds. OPSU totaled 31 rebounds led by Hannah Whitaker with ten; Mali Wright brought down 15 of Newman's 37 boards and secured the games only double-double with a game-high in scoring of 28 points.

Newman finished with a 41.3 percent shooting average with OPSU just behind at 39.6 percent. However, the two team differed by a margin of 34 percent in free-throws; the Jets averaged 92.9 percent at the line missing just one of 14 attempts, while the Aggies made 10-17 free-throws for a 58.8 percent average. As OPSU's women continue to struggle with shooting, Coach Charles Terry feels there is still opportunity to "get over that hump."

In Saturday's second matchup the OPSU men were taken down 114-80 by the Jets. The Aggies came out cold to start the game giving up eight points in the first two minutes and couldn't find a basket until the 17:36 mark. Zoran Arsenovic then came through with back-to-back three-pointers and a layup to help get the Aggies rolling. Marquavius Williams followed up with another  three and with 15 minutes left in the first half, the Aggies had narrowed the gap to two points (13-15).

The game remained tight for the next six minutes until the Jets landed their fourth shot from beyond the arc and came back with a dunk off a steal to reclaim an eight-point lead with 8:20 on the clock. Newma went on to land four more threes and closed out the opening half with a 14-point advantage over the Aggies (55-41).

After the break the Jets switched into overdrive shooting 67.7 percent from the field, 75 percent at three-point range and 82.4 percent from the line. The Aggies were outscored by twenty points in the second half and finished with an overall shooting percentage of 40.3 percent; they performed great at the free-throw line averaging 80.6 percent, but struggled with long distance shots landing only five of 22 three-point attempts to average 22.7 percent. While the Aggies were successful in the paint, the Jets simply dominated outscoring OPSU 56-38 on inside shots. Newman's bench outplayed the Aggies 54-35 and with 14 steals on the day, the Jets added 29 points to the board off 20 Aggie turnovers.

Antonio Manns, Jr. put up a great effort scoring a game-high of 23 points for OPSU. Manns also led the game in rebounds with seven and got away with one of the Aggies' four steals. With six Jets players scoring in double-digits, Taylor Schrieber held the team high of 18 points for Newman; Kevin Bryant shared the game-high in rebounds with seven defensive boards.  Also putting up double-digit numbers for OPSU were Zoran Arsenovic with 15 and freshman Robert McCalley who scored 12 points from the bench; McCalley was second on the team in rebounding with five boards and went 4-5 from the line. OPSU's Dedrick Shannon, Jr. earned another game-high with six assists.

After the game Coach Jerry Olson was concise saying, "They were really good and we were really bad." He added, "We weren't in good stances and were slow defensively."

The Aggie women fall to 1-12 on the season and 0-5 in conference play, while the men stand at 8-6 overall and hold a 1-5 Heartland record. Both teams compete on the road this week with two Heartland Conference games. The first contest takes the Aggies to Fort Smith, Ark. Thursday, Jan. 14 to face off with UAFS; on Saturday, Jan. 16 they stop off in Claremore, Okla. for matchups with Rogers State. The Aggies will return to their home court Thursday, Jan. 21 to take on St. Edward's University.
 
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