Kansas City, Mo. -- The UMKC men's basketball dropped a heartbreaking
65-60 overtime decision to league-leading North Dakota State
on Saturday night at Municipal Auditorium.
The Kangaroos led by as many as 14 points early in the second half, but
the senior laden Bison rallied down the stretch to claim the tight five-point
victory.
UMKC opened the game strong by jumping out to a 16-10 lead
over the first eight and a half minutes of the contest. The Kangaroos then pushed their lead to eight
points at the 6:16 mark behind a pair of Spencer Johnson free throws.
The squad continued to build its advantage, as the lead went
to a half-high 12 points on a James Humphrey fast break lay-up at the 3:06 mark
before the squad took a 33-23 advantage into the break. UMKC limited the Bison to just eight field
goals and a .320 field goal percentage in the opening 20 minutes.
Coming out of the break, the Kangaroos pushed their lead to
a game-high 14 points at 39-25 at the 17:52 mark. The squad then remained in control, as it led
44-32 with 12:04 remaining in the game.
The momentum began shifting in NDSU's favor courtesy of a Mike
Nelson three-pointer to cut the deficit to single digits. Forward Brett Winkelman then connected on a
pair of free throws to make the score 44-37 with around 10 minutes to play. After UMKC stretched its lead back to nine
(46-37), the Bison used a 10-2 run to pull to within a point at 48-47 with 4:54
remaining.
At the 3:40 mark, NDSU took its first lead since early in
the first half at 52-50 courtesy of a Ben Woodside three-pointer. The Bison then stretched their advantage to
four points (56-52) with 2:23 to play.
The Kangaroos continued executing their offense, as they pulled
to within two on a Bakari Lewis lay-up with 1:33 remaining and freshman Latreze
Mushatt closed the gap to a point (56-55) after making one-of-two from the
charity stripe. UMKC then played
excellent defense for 35 seconds, but NDSU got a huge offensive rebound to keep
control of the basketball, which forced the ?Roos to foul.
After Woodside knocked down a pair of free throws to push
the NDSU lead back to three, Dane Brumagin connected on a fade-away three
pointer with 18 ticks left in the game to even the tally at 58. NDSU had two looks to win the game in the closing
seconds, but neither fell as the game went to OT.
The Kangaroos struck first in the bonus frame when Lewis
made both free throw attempts to put UMKC up 60-58. On the ensuing possession, Woodside returned
the favor with two makes to even the score for the fifth time at 60 all with
4:11 remaining.
Neither team could muster any points offensively until Lucas
Moormann made one-of-two free throws with 58 seconds remaining to give his team
the 61-60 lead. Following a UMKC
turnover, Woodside stretched the lead to three from the foul stripe, and Hamilton's three-pointer with
13 seconds left fell short, as NDSU went on to claim the 65-60 victory.
The Kangaroos shot .355 (22-62) from the floor and .357
(5-14) from long range, while the Bison shot .322 (19-59) from the field and
.133 (2-15) from three-point range. NDSU
also won the battle on the boards, 45-39, in the contest.
Mushatt was one of two UMKC players to finish in double
figures, as he tallied a career-high 15 points on a 5-of-13 night from the
floor. Brumagin, meanwhile, netted 10
points on the night.
Woodside led all scorers in the contest with 28 points, 15
of which came from the charity stripe.
Brett Winkelman added 10 points for his team in the victory.
UMKC (6-14, 2-5) will hit the road for its next two contests
beginning with a Thursday night match-up at Oral Roberts.
