LATE SURGE LIFTS LOPERS

KEARNEY — Antoine Young's first coaching victory came with a flourish, and a flurry of points.

Starting with a 3-pointer by freshman D'Aundre Samuels with 7:09 left, the University of Nebraska at Kearney finished the game on a 23-9 run to beat Chadron State 113-101 Saturday afternoon at the UNK Health and Sports Center.

"It's awesome," Young said, just 24 hours after being named the interim head coach after the sudden departure of Kevin Lofton. "I'm going to go home and try to process it all and figure out what happened."

Chadron State (1-2) led by as many as eight points in the second half of a very fast-paced game.

Both teams shot better than 55 percent from the floor and had 80 points on the board with 10:20 left on the clock.

That's what Young wants to see. "It's kind of a different style than what we've played like, a lot of transition, going to push the ball up the floor. That's what me and coach (Lofton) wanted to do.

"That was our message all week was to push the ball up the floor, attack in transition, so we're not playing half-court all the time."

The up-tempo style resulted in six Lopers, four who are in their first year at UNK, scoring in double figures.

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