WICHITA, Kan. – The Rogers State Men's Basketball team picked up a dominating victory over Newman Wednesday night in MIAA play, defeating the Jets 82-59 at Fugate Gymnasium.
 
The Hillcats (13-4, 5-3 MIAA) led nearly wire-to-wire in the contest as five Hillcats finished in double figures.
 
How It Happened: After a turnover from Newman (7-10, 1-6 MIAA) to begin the game, Tavian Davis gave the Hillcats the lead on their first possession with a three pointer 47 seconds into the contest. Davis then hit a jumper, a layup and another jumper followed by a free-throw, as the senior scored the first 10 points of the game for the Hillcats to put RSU ahead 10-4.
 
Rogers State continued to expand the lead in the first half to as much as 19 points with a jumper from Gabriel Ferreira to put the Hillcats ahead 39-20 with 2:39 left in the half.
 
Newman used a 5-0 run late in the first half and a 6-0 run early in the second half to cut the deficit to 11, but the Hillcats responded with a 14-0 run to go up by 25 with a layup from Christopher Miller with 12:04 remaining.
 
The Hillcats would extend the lead to as much as 30 points at 80-50 with 2:49 remaining.
 
Players of Note: Ferreira led the Hillcats with 14 points on 5-of-6 shooting. The senior also shared in the team high in rebounds with Brewster Peacock, with each player grabbing five boards. Ferreira was one of three Hillcats to record a block in the game.
 
After scoring the first 10 points of the game, Davis finished with 12 points overall. The Muskogee native also had three assists, a steal and a rebound.
 
Marques Sumner finished with 11 points in the contest and led the team with four assists. The senior also collected three rebounds.
 
Darraja Parnell also had 11 points. The junior was perfect from the free-throw stripe, going 4-for-4, and three rebounds, two assists and a steal.
 
Jett Sternberger rounded out the Hillcats in double figures, finishing with 10 points. The freshman was perfect in the game, going 3-for-3 from the field, including a pair of triples. He was also perfect from the line, connecting on both of his free-throw attempts. The Kingfisher, Oklahoma native also had three rebounds and a pair of assists.
 
Key Statistic: The Hillcats never trailed in the game, leading for 39:13. It is the fifth time the Hillcats have not trailed in a game this season and the eighth time the Hillcats have led for at least 38 minutes in a game.
 
Notables: Rogers State improves to 10-5 in the all-time series with Newman. It is the third time the Hillcats have completed the regular season sweep of Newman in program history, dating back to the start of the series in the 2013-14 season.
 
The Hillcats had their second best night shooting from the field this season, finishing 26-of-44 for a 59.1 field goal percentage.
 
Ferreira led the Hillcats in scoring for the second time this season.
 
Rogers State improved to 9-0 this season when scoring at least 70 points. The Hillcats are 106-13 under Justin Barkley when scoring at least 80 points in a game.
 
Barkley collected win 196 in his 10^th season as a head coach, all with Rogers State.
 
What It Means: With the victory, the Hillcats have picked up back-to-back wins for the first time since December when RSU won five straight. The win also moves the Hillcats up to fourth in the MIAA Standings two games shy of the midpoint of the conference season.
 
Up Next: Rogers State will remain on the road as the Hillcats travel to the Oklahoma City area to take on the University of Central Oklahoma. The Hillcats will tip off with the Bronchos at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, January 18, at Hamilton Field House.