Fort Myers, Fla. -- The UMKC men's basketball team fought back from a 10-point second half
deficit to defeat Florida Gulf Coast, 73-69, in the finale of the
O'Reilly Auto Parts CBE Classic on Wednesday night at Alico Arena. The
Kangaroos had three players finish in double figures in the game with
sophomore Reggie Hamilton leading the way with a game-high 22 points.
FGCU jumped on the UMKC from the opening tip, as it scored
the first 12 points of the contest. The
Kangaroos answered with a 6-0 run to cut the deficit in half, but the squad
played the remainder of the half playing catch-up.
UMKC trimmed the margin to two points three times in the
first half with the final coming at 28-26 at the 2:20 mark on a James Humphrey
dunk. The Eagles, however, regained the
advantage by scoring 10-of-13 points to take a 38-29 lead into the break.
The Kangaroos scored the first five points of the second
half via a Dane Brumagin three-pointer and a Spencer Johnson jumper to get to
within four at 38-34, but FGCU answered with a 9-3 run to stretch the margin
back to 10 (47-37) with 16:07 remaining.
The Kangaroos turned the tide with a 15-4 spurt over a
five-minute span to take their first lead of the game, 52-51. UMKC connected on four three pointers during
the spurt, which included a pair of long balls by freshman Latreze Mushatt.
With the score tied at 56, Brumagin gave UMKC the 59-56 lead
with 7:31 to play on a three-pointer, and the Kangaroos pushed the advantage to
four points (64-60) with 4:32 left. The
Eagles, however, continued battling as they fought back to take the one-point
lead on a Kyle Marks dunk with 3:01 to play.
Hamilton
then took over in the clutch, as he scored six straight points to give UMKC the
70-65 lead. FGCU cut the margin to two
points twice in the closing seconds, but Hamilton
hit two free throws with 2.5 seconds left to seal the victory.
UMKC finished with a .431 (22-51) field goal percentage,
which included a 10-of-24 night from long range. The 10 three-pointers are a season-high for
the squad. FGCU, meanwhile, shot .397
(23-58) from the floor, and it out rebounded the Kangaroos, 38-35.
Hamilton
made 5-of-10 shots from the floor, 3-of-6 three-pointers and 9-of-11 free
throws to record his fourth straight 20-point game. The guard also had seven assists and six
rebounds in the contest. Brumagin
finished with 17 in the game, while Mushatt scored 14 to go along with a
team-high eight boards.
Reed Baker led a group of four Eagle players in double
figures, as he finished with 17 points in the game.
UMKC (3-4) will close out its season-long seven game road
trip against No. 18/17 Florida on Sunday
afternoon in Orlando, Fla.
