Rochester, Mich. ? The UMKC men's basketball team erased
a 23-point second half deficit to force overtime, but Oakland outscored the
Kangaroos by nine in the extra period to go on to the 114-105 victory on
Thursday night at the O'Rena in both team's Summit League opener. Junior Dane Brumagin was lights out on the
night for the Kangaroos, as he scored a career-high 40 points, 29 of which came
in the second half.
The Grizzlies got off to a quick start over the first four
minutes of the contest by jumping out to a 10-0 lead. UMKC scored six quick points
to get to within four at 10-6, but OU responded with a 9-4 spurt to take a
19-10 lead with 11:26 to go in the half.
Oakland
then stretched its lead to 13 points at 28-15 at the 10-minute mark and again
at 30-17 with 7:55 left in the half. The
Kangaroos, however, responded with an 11-4 run to climb to within six
points. Junior Brian Gettinger hit treys
on consecutive possessions before Brumagin connected on a long ball with 5:08
left to make the score 34-28.
Five quick points by freshman Tim Williams sparked a 19-6
run to close out the first half, as Oakland
led 53-34 at the break. The Grizzlies
shot .618 from the floor in the first half with four different players scoring
in double digits.
The Kangaroos scored 9-of-the-first-13 points of the second
half to get to within 14 points at 57-43.
Oakland,
however, responded with an 11-2 run of its own to stretch its lead to 68-45
with 13:44 remaining.
UMKC wouldn't give up, as it cut the deficit to 10 points at
70-60 with 9:25 left in the game.
Brumagin scored nine points during the stretch to key the Kangaroo run.
A Gettinger three pointer ? his fourth of the game ? brought
the deficit to seven at 70-63. After a
Dan Waterstradt putback gave OU the nine-point lead, Brumagin scored five
straight points to cut the margin to four points at 72-68 with 7:25 remaining.
The Grizzlies scored 10-of-12 points over the next two
minutes to stretch their lead back to 12 points at 82-70. The Kangaroos wouldn't roll over, as Brumagin
nearly brought them all the way back by himself.
The junior scored 12 points over a two and a half minute
stretch to bring UMKC to within a point at 93-92. After a pair of Johnathon Jones free throws
put OU up three, freshman Reggie Hamilton connected on a long ball with eight
seconds remaining to send the game into overtime.
The Grizzlies scored the first five points of the extra
period before stretching their lead to seven points at 104-97. A Nathan Balch three pointer and a pair of Brent
Stephens free throws brought UMKC to within two at 104-102, but Nelson's
three-point play pushed the lead to five before OU went on to the 114-105 win.
UMKC shot .468 (36-77) from the floor and .471 (16-34) from
long range in the game. Oakland, meanwhile, shot .507 (38-75) from
the field and .647 (11-17) from three-point land. The Grizzlies won the battle on the boards,
47-36, and they had 22 assists to UMKC's 19.
The 105 points is the 10th highest scoring output
in school history, and it is the first time the program has scored over 100
since Dec. 4, 2003 vs. Texas-Pan American (104-80 win).
Brumagin led all scorers with his 40 points on 12-of-17
shooting, which included a 7-of-9 mark from long range. The point total is tied for the fifth highest
scoring output in school history. Hamilton matched a
career-high with 19 points, Gettinger had a season-high 17 points, and Stephens
added 12 points to go along with a career-high six assists.
Five OU players finished in double figures in the game. Nelson paced the squad with 31 points on
9-of-15 shooting to go along with eight boards.
Two Grizzlie players finished with double-doubles with Jones finishing
with 13 points and 13 assists, and Keith Benson finishing with 17 points and 13
boards.
UMKC (3-6, 0-1) will return to action on Saturday afternoon
against new league member IPFW in Fort
Wayne, Ind.
