UNK Men's Basketball Season Comes To An End
MIAA Player of the Year Jordan Frison scored a career-high 39 points to help Pittsburg State beat Nebraska Kearney, 96-63, in the MIAA Tournament quarterfinals Friday afternoon in Kansas City.
The fourth-seeded Gorillas (18-11), who reached the finals last season, advance to Saturday's semifinals to take on eight-seed Central Oklahoma while the Lopers end the year at 12-16.
In this 10-team event for the first time in five years, fifth-seed UNK was hoping to hang with a potent Pitt squad that won a 100-93 shootout at the Health & Sports Center on Feb. 20. Both teams shot lights out that night but today it was just the Gorillas. They finished 56% (33 of 59) from the field, including a 10 of 24 effort from downtown, and went 20 of 24 at the line.
UNK made only 33% (20 of 59) of its shots including 3 of 22 from behind the arc. An 11-0 Loper spurt late in the first half cut Pitt's lead to 38-30. The stretch included five straight points from senior guard Trey Hepburn (Bellevue West) but Pitt countered with a half-closing 8-0 run. They then rolled after the break to beat UNK for a fifth straight time.
"They were better on defense today and Pitt State is talented. We think they are right there with Washburn," said UNK head coach Marty Levinson. "They have a true, big center, a veteran like Taggart, Frison being so good, and are deep. We were at home (100-93 game), shot the ball really well that night and made a bunch of threes. Making three today, some of that was their close outs, some of that their defensive rotation and some of that was us being a little bit tight."
Frison, a 6-0, 170-pound true sophomore guard, made 15 of 24 shots (1 of 4 threes) and 8 of 9 free throws to record his fifth 30-point game of the yar. He added a team-high five assists, three rebounds and a steal in 35 minutes. In the win at Buckle Court, Frison had 26 points and a school-record 18 assists.
"Our best offense is off of our defense, and we couldn't get them to turnover it over today," said Levinson. "They handled our pressure and contested the three-point line a little bit better. Offensively, there isn't one person you can help off of. We tried to junk it up but they kind of stung us early."
Off the bench, Estonia junior guard Johannes "Yoyo" Kirsipuu had 16 points thanks to five freebies and three threes with six others between four and nine points. That group included MIAA vet Avery Taggart (nine points, seven rebounds).
UNK was led by Texas junior guard Ja'Bryant Hill (17) and Arkansas senior guard Allen Taylor (15) who combined for 32 points. Hill was 10 of 12 at the line with Taylor having 11 second half points. Next, Omaha senior Chase Thompson finished with five points and three boards with Missouri redshirt junior Kendrick Gilbert (10) in double digits for the 10th time this winter. Finally, Texas sophomore reserve post Taylor Harrell had six points and five boards in 21 minutes.
"Coming back to my alma mater was always a dream and I'm thankful that timing in life is everything. To have these three (Hepburn, Taylor & Thompson) as my seniors .. I knew them, they were available and I'm glad they believed in me. Because I wanted to go through this journey with them and wanted them to lay the foundation," said Levinson. "This year was tough when we started 1-7 and it could've gone the other way. That's why I wanted these guys as my seniors because I've been through some wars with them before and I know who they are as people. I knew it would go our way but didn't know exactly when."