Fort Myers, Fla. -- The UMKC men's basketball team beat
its second straight Missouri Valley Conference foe when it topped Bradley on
Monday afternoon at Alico Arena in the O'Reilly Auto Parts CBE Classic. The Kangaroos, which had three players finish
the contest in double digits, used an 11-0 spurt over the final five minutes of
the first half to gain a 12-point halftime lead, and they never looked back in
the decisive 73-61 victory. Senior Dane Brumagin, meanwhile, became the ninth 1,000-point scorer in school history in the game.
UMKC opened the contest strong as it built a 9-6 lead
through the first five minutes behind seven quick points by
Brumagin. Bradley then followed with
back-to-back field goals to grab an 11-10 lead, but James Humphrey and Reggie
Hamilton scored the next to buckets to put the ?Roos up 13-10 with 12:21 to go
in the half.
The contest then remained tight until the five-minute mark
before the Kangaroos put together an 11-0 run to stretch a one-point advantage
(25-24) into a 12-point halftime lead at 36-24.
Brumagin scored nine points during the spurt, which included a fast
break dunk that put him over the 1,000-point mark for his UMKC career.
Coming out of the break, the Kangaroos stretched the margin
to 15 points over the first five minutes behind six points by Mushatt. Bradley managed to pull to within 10 points at
51-41 at the 12:57 mark, but Brumagin immediately answered with a trey and
Mushatt followed with a jumper to give UMKC the 56-41 lead with 11 minutes to
play.
The Kangaroos proceeded to stretch their advantage to a game-high
18 points at the 8:11 mark on a Reggie Hamilton jumper, making the score 60-42. Bradley managed to get the margin to within
12 points on three occasions down the stretch, but UMKC continued executing as
it went on to the 73-61 victory.
UMKC shot a season-high .560 (28-50) from the floor in the
game, and its 1-3-1 zone defense limited the Braves to .364 (20-55) shooting
and 23 turnovers. The Kangaroos also
made 11-of-12 free throw attempts for a .929 free throw percentage in the game.
Hamilton
led the team with 20 points on a 9-of-15 night from the floor to go along with
a season-high six assists. It is the
guard's third 20-point game this season.
Brumagin finished with 17 points, while Mushatt added a career-best 14
points. Freshman Trey McKinney-Jones,
meanwhile, had eight rebounds and seven points off the bench.
The win is UMKC's second straight over The Valley. The Kangaroos topped Wichita State
on Nov. 19 for its first road win over a MVC opponent in school history.
UMKC (2-3) will return to action tomorrow afternoon against Richmond beginning at 4
p.m. (CST).
