Jimmies sail to 82-52 win at Hastings

Jan. 23—After a slow start to the first half, the University of Jamestown men's basketball went on a 10-1 run on their way to a 82-52 win over Hastings College.

The Jimmies (18-5, 8-5) dominated from the charity stripe, hitting 18- of-20 attempts. The Broncos (6-16, 1-11) shot poorly, shooting 32% from the field.

The game was the team's first on head coach Danny Neville's birthday since he was hired to the position before the 2015-16 season. Neville said that the team going to 1-0 on his birthday was a good feeling.

"Pretty cool," Neville said. "It's a good birthday present."

The Jimmies' Marc Kjos stretched the Jimmies lead out on a three to make it 8-4. The Jimmies' Devan Praska knocked down a corner three to make it 16-9. The Jimmies' Mason Walters splashed a triple to put his team up 21-9 with 11:51 to go in the first half, drawing a Broncos timeout. The Broncos' Dawson Zinger knocked down a corner three to make it 21-12 with 10:50 to go in the first half. The Broncos' Dashawn Walker hit the hook shot to make it 25-14 midway through the first half. With 9:15 to go in the first half, Praska hit a triple to make it 28-14. With 5:06 to go, Walters rose up and hit the hook shot to make it 37-22. The Broncos' Zach Rust knocked down the triple to make it 41-27 with 2:55 to go in the first half.

With 17:41 to go in the second half, Walters got in and hit the floater to make it 47-33. The Broncos' Phil Cisrow knocked down a three with 14:27 to go to make it 54-41. The Jimmies beat the shot clock with a putback by Brady Birch to make it 58-43 with 12:30 to go. With 13 minutes to go, Walters sliced through a double team and hit the layup to make it 60-43. With just under 10 minutes to go, Kjos sprinted around the defenders and hit a runner to make it 66-43. The Jimmies' Cole Woodford banked home a three to make it 69-45 with 9:15 to go.

The Jimmies opening the second half with a run to stretch the lead out was important, Neville said.

"We kind of called them out to have that killer in them and finish games," Neville said. "In the first half we got up 17 and then they came back. The biggest thing was to just push the defense."

The Jimmies second-leading scorer was Kjos who finished with 16 points despite the sharpshooter struggling to shoot from three-point range.

"Just gotta be aggressive even though shots aren't falling and try to impact the game in other ways," Kjos said.

The Jimmies are back in action at 7:45 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 26, when they face Mount Marty. The Broncos look to get back in the win column at 7:45 p.m. Wednesday when they take on Concordia.

UJ 82, HC 52

UJ: 43 39—82

HC: 31 21—52

Points leaders:

UJ: Mason Walters 25, Marc Kjos 16, Cole Woodford 11

HC: Zach Rust 13, Karson Ganesbom 11, Dashawn Walker 9

Assists leaders:

UJ: Kjos 7, Argue 1, Will Cordes 1

HC: TJ Babikir 2, Phil Cisrow 2, Hayden Grint 2, Rust 2

Leading rebounders:

UJ: Brady Birch 9, Devon Schultz 7, Walters 7

HC: Walker 8, Cisrow 5, Evan Kingston 3, Ganesbom 3, Rust 3