CLAREMORE, Okla. – The Rogers State men's basketball team cruised to a 94-78 win over Newman in the final home game for five RSU seniors on Saturday at the Claremore Expo Center.
 
With the win and a loss by conference-leading Dallas Baptist, the Hillcats are a half a game back from the Patriots in the Heartland Conference standings. RSU has a 13-5 record with two games remaining, and DBU sits at 13-4 with three games left. The two teams meet on Feb. 29 in the final regular season game.
 
Starting all five seniors for the first time this season, the group combined to score 67 of the 94 points with four hitting double figures. Donald Moore led the way with 21 points on 8-of-13 shooting. J.C. Hartzler, who broke the career rebounding record in the game, finished with 15 points and six rebounds. Corey Ayala nearly hit a triple-double totaling 12 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists. Also hitting double digits was Travis Julien with 11 points of 5-for-6 shooting. Robert Johnson nearly got to double figures as he totaled eight points on a perfect 3-for-3 shooting night.
 
Early in the second half, Hartzler grabbed his third rebound of the game to pass Sylvester Spicer's mark of 431 career rebounds to take over as the all-time leading rebounder in RSU history. Hartzler now owns the RSU career records for points and rebounds and is second in assists.
 
The Hillcats scored the first five points of the game and had control throughout as they never trailed in the game. RSU pushed the lead to 17-9 after a layup from Jeylyn Sharpe, who had 14 points. The Hillcats went up by 10 after a basket from Travis Hester for a 25-15 score with 10:29 remaining in the half.
 
NU cut the deficit to one at 27-26 with back-to-back threes, but the Cats withstood the run and pulled out to a 43-36 advantage at halftime.
 
The Jets started the second half with a 7-2 run, all seven points coming from forward James Pegues, to slice the margin to 45-43, however, RSU again responded. This time with a 13-2 run to gain a 58-45 lead after a Hartzler basket with 14:41 left.
 
RSU controlled the rest of the contest, holding a lead of at least nine points for the final 14 minutes. The advantage grew to its largest at 84-64 on a Julien layup with 4:38 remaining.
 
The seniors each got their moment as the five stepped off the court for the final time at the Claremore Expo Center to a loud ovation from the Hillcat crowd. One by one first with forwards Julien and Johnson followed by Ayala with 2:38 left in the game. Moore exited for the final time with 1:36 remaining, and Hartzler stepped off the Expo court one last time at the 1:15 mark.
 
For the third time in six games, the Hillcats shot better than 60 percent from the field, finishing at 61 percent on 36-of-59 shooting from the field.
 
NU's Pegues registered a game-high 29 points on 8-of-11 shooting from the field and 12-for-14 from the free throw line. Gavin Thurman scored 11 points, and Kevin Bryant added 10 points.
 
The Hillcats (21-5, 13-5 HC) go to UA Fort Smith next Saturday (Feb. 27) for a 3 p.m. contest in Fort Smith, Arkansas. Follow the action on the Hillcat Network at www.rsuhillcats.com/live.