Kansas
City, Mo. -- The UMKC men's basketball held off South Dakota State
to claim a tight 69-67 victory on Thursday night at Municipal Auditorium. The Jackrabbits had two attempts in the
closing seconds to either tie the game or take the lead, but the Kangaroos held
on to win the game and end their five-game losing streak.
South Dakota
State opened the game
strong by jumping out to a 17-11 lead over the first five and a half minutes of
the contest. UMKC, however, responded
with a 20-5 run over a seven minute span to build a 31-22 lead. Senior Dane Brumagin scored 11 of the
Kangaroo points during the spurt.
The Jackrabbits answered with a run of its own ? 19-7 ? to
close out the half to take a 41-38 advantage into the break. SDSU's Clint Sargent was on fire for the
squad in the opening 20 minutes, as he made 6-of-10 shots en route to 18
points.
After the break, neither team could pull away, as there were
five ties and six lead changes over the first seven minutes of the half. Clinging to a one point lead with around 10
minutes to play, the Kangaroos stretched their lead to nine (65-56) with eight
unanswered points.
Sophomore Reggie Hamilton opened the run with a long ball
before Trey McKinney-Jones connected on a short jumper in the paint to stretch
the lead to six. Hamilton then put his squad up nine with 6:46
to play with an old-school three-point play.
The Kangaroos then hit a cold streak, as they went more than
four-and-a-half minutes without a point.
As a result, the Jackrabbits were able to pull to within two (65-63)
with 2:31 to play. Following a pair of Hamilton free throws,
SDSU's Garrett Callahan again got his team to within a field goal (67-65) with
1:51 remaining.
On the ensuing possession, UMKC ran down the shot clock
before Hamilton came up short on a field goal attempt, but sophomore Spencer
Johnson grabbed the offensive rebound ? just the team's second of the game - to
allow the ?Roos to run more time off the clock.
Hamilton
then responded with field goal to make the score 69-65 with 1:01 left to play.
The Jackrabbits went to work offensively, and Anthony
Cordova produced with a quick two to make the score 69-67. SDSU then played excellent defense to give
itself a chance to pick up the victory.
With the game in the balance, Sargent missed a three-point
attempt to win the game, but Kai Williams was there to snatch the offensive
board. The forward, however, missed a
point blank lay-up attempt before UMKC's Johnson secured the rebound to give
the Kangaroos the 69-67 victory.
The Kangaroos shot .500 (25-50) from the floor and .462
(6-13) from three-point range in the game.
The Jackrabbits, meanwhile, finished with a .439 (25-57) field goal
percentage and a .368 (7-19) mark from long distance. SDSU also won the battle on the boards, 35-9.
Brumagin led a group of three UMKC players in double figures
with 19 points on a 5-of-12 night from the floor. Johnson finished with 16 points and six
rebounds, while Hamilton
added 15.
The Jackrabbits also had three players finish the game in
double digits with Sargent and Callahan leading the way with 22 points apiece. Williams, meanwhile, grabbed a game-high 15
rebounds.
UMKC (6-13, 2-4) will return to action on Saturday night
against league-leading North
Dakota State. Tip is set for 7:05 p.m.
