Kansas City, Mo. ? The UMKC men's basketball team rallied
from an eight-point second half deficit to pick up a 76-73 victory over
Centenary on Saturday night at Kemper Arena.
Four Kangaroo players finished the contest in double figures with junior
Dane Brumagin pacing the squad with 29 points.
UMKC opened the game by jumping out to a 17-10 lead through
the first five and a half minutes of the contest. Centenary then cut the lead to five points at
the 13:18 mark before the Kangaroos used a 19-5 run to stretch the advantage to
a game-high 19 points (38-19) at the 5:54 mark.
The Gents responded with a 19-6 run to close out the half to
cut the lead to just six (44-38) heading into the locker room. The Kangaroos shot .538 (14-26) from the
floor in the first 20 minutes, which included five long balls.
Centenary opened the second half on a 13-7 run to even the
score at 51 all with 15:10 remaining. A
Kenny Simms dunk put UMKC up 58-54 with 13:13 remaining, but the Gents then used
a 14-2 run and held the Kangaroos scoreless for more than six minutes to build
a 68-60 lead with 5:56 left in the contest.
With the game in the balance, UMKC used a 9-1 run to even
the game at 69 all with 3:34 left. Simms
opened the spurt with a free throw, and Brumagin followed with a lay-up to cut
the margin to five. A Centenary free
throw pushed the lead to six at 69-63 before James Humphrey connected on a trey
to get the Kangaroos to within three. Brumagin
then followed with a triple from the top of the key to tie the game.
With the score 71 all, Justin Glenn put the Gents on top by
a field goal, before senior Tim Blackwell connected on a three-pointer with
2:26 remaining to give the Kangaroos the 74-73 lead.
After a scoreless two minutes, Centenary had a chance to
take the lead with 19 seconds remaining.
Nick Stallings missed a jumper before Justin Glenn had a tip-in with
nine seconds left. The call was negated,
however, due to an offensive foul, and Reggie Hamilton then made a pair of free
throws with nine seconds left to seal the 76-73 win.
UMKC finished with a .510 (25-49) field goal percentage and
a .400 (10-25) mark from long range.
Centenary shot .442 (23-52) from the floor and .400 (8-20) from
three-point land. The Kangaroos also won
the battle on the boards, 30-28.
Brumagin paced the team with his 29 points on 10-of-17
shooting, which included four three pointers.
He also had a team-high eight rebounds.
Blackwell finished with 13 points and five assists, while Humphrey and
Hamilton both added 10.
The Gents, meanwhile, had three players finish the game in
double figures. Lance Hill paced the
squad with 22 points, Stallings had 18 and Tyrone Hamilton finished with 12.
UMKC (8-14, 3-6) will return to action on Thursday night at Western Illinois.
