KOKOMO, Ind. - The IU Kokomo men's basketball team lost to league-leading Saint-Mary-of-the-Woods Saturday, falling 72-70 in the final minute.. After the loss, the Cougars hold an overall record of 13-3 this with a 3-3 mark in River States Conference games.

SMWC took an early 5-0 lead before an 8-2 IUK scoring run, punctuated by free throws and a layup from Max Newman, giving the Cougars an 8-7 lead. The Cougars continued to pull ahead, leading by eight points by the midpoint of the half after layups from Chris Chin and Hunter Jackson.

IUK remained in control throughout the rest of the opening 20 minutes, leading by as many as 13 thanks to a three-pointer from Hunter Jackson quickly followed by a layup from Julien Hunter. The Cougars took a 44-35 lead into halftime.

SMWC and IUK went back and forth with two-point shots to start the second half, before a Pomeroys scoring run cut their deficit to four points. Hunter Jackson brought it back up to seven with another three pointer, but SMWC continued to storm back to trail by just two with 10 minutes remaining in the game.

Throughout the following minutes, the Cougars kept the Pomeroys at bay, answering every score with one of their own. Eventually, SMWC tied the score at 67 with just with less than three minutes left.

With a minute and a half remaining, Chris Chin scored a layup to put Kokomo ahead 70-69, but a three pointer by SMWC with 1:05 remaining handed the Cougars a 72-70 loss.

Max Newman led the Cougars with a 21 point, 11 rebound double-double in the loss. Newman was closely followed by Noah Harris with 17 points and Hunter Jackson with 13.

The Cougars will return home next week, with two conference games against Alice Lloyd College on Thursday and West Virginia Tech on Saturday.

For the latest news, updates, and information on the IU Kokomo Cougars, fans can visit IUKCougars.com. Fans can also stay up to date on the latest Cougar news by following @IUKAthletics on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.