San
Antonio, Texas ? The UMKC men's basketball fell to 0-4 on the
road this season with a 73-61 loss to UTSA on Thursday night at the Convocation Center
in San Antonio. The Roadrunners used an 8-2 run to close out the first half
and a 10-2 run to start the second to build a double-digit lead before running
out 12-point winners in the contest.
UMKC got off to a solid start in the game, as it took a 10-4
lead through the first five minutes of action.
Two straight Keith Spencer dunks and a Joey Shank three-pointer cut the
Kangaroo advantage to one point (12-11), before Melvin Smith put UTSA up 13-12
with 12:00 minutes left in the half.
A Dane Brumagin three-pointer gave UMKC the 15-14 lead with
7:48 on the clock, and the team pushed its advantage to five points on a pair
of occasions with the final coming at 25-20.
The Roadrunners then went on an 8-2 run to close out the half to take a
28-27 lead into the halftime break.
UTSA continued its run to start the second half, as it
scored 10-of-12 points to push the advantage to nine points at 38-29 with 17:58
remaining. The Kangaroos answered with a
7-2 spurt of their own to climb to within four points behind five points by
Brumagin and a Tim Blackwell lay-up.
Unfortunately, that's as close as they would come.
The Roadrunners stretched their lead to 11 points with 12:55
remaining, and the margin swelled to a game-high 18 points at 68-50 with 4:24
left. The Kangaroos responded with seven
straight points to get to within 11 points with 2:03 on the clock, but that was
the extent of the UMKC run, as the team fell by 12, 73-61.
The Kangaroos shot .500 (21-42) from the floor and .417
(5-12) from three-point land in the game.
UTSA, meanwhile, finished with a .481 (26-54) field goal percentage and
a .500 (9-18) mark from long range. UMKC
won the battle on the glass for the third straight game, 33-30.
Three players finished in double digits with Brumagin pacing
the team with 17 points on 5-of-8 shooting.
Brent Stephens finished with 13 points and Reggie Hamilton added
10. Stephens and Hamilton also tied for
the team-high with seven rebounds apiece.
UTSA also had three players finish in double figures with
Shank leading the squad with 23 points.
The guard connected on 6-of-10 three-pointers in the game.
UMKC (3-4) will return to action on Monday night at 8:05
p.m. when it faces Eastern Washington at
Municipal Auditorium. The game will be
the second of a doubleheader, as the Kangaroo women square off against Texas State
at 5:05 p.m.
