Shreveport,
La. -- The UMKC men's basketball
team overcame a 14-point second half deficit to even the game at 60 all before
ultimately dropping an 83-75 decision to Centenary at the Gold Dome on Saturday
afternoon. Sophomore James Humphrey
paced the Kangaroos in the contest with a career-high 16 points.
The Gents jumped out to a 10-4 lead to open the game before
UMKC scored seven unanswered to grab an 11-10 advantage with 13:15 on the
clock. Two straight three-pointers by
Nick Stallings then opened a 13-2 Centenary run to help the squad build a 23-13
lead with 9:34 remaining.
Trailing by nine with eight minutes to go in the half, the
Kangaroos began chipping away at their deficit.
The squad pulled to within four (27-23) following a Fred Ford lay-up, but
CC answered with five straight to push the margin back to nine at 32-23.
A three-point play by Trey McKinney-Jones then opened an 8-0
run that got UMKC to within a point with 29 seconds left in the half, but a
tip-in by Lance Hill at the buzzer sent the Gents into the locker room with the
34-31 lead.
Centenary built its advantage to double digits over the
first three minutes of the second half at 46-36. The squad connected on three-of-its-first-four
three-point attempts during the stretch to go along with a three-point play
from Stallings. The Gents then pushed
their lead to as many as 14 (53-39) with 15 minutes remaining.
Trailing by 11 with 11:59 left, UMKC used a 13-2 run to even
the tally at 60. Ford and Reggie
Hamilton opened the spurt with two straight field goals to make the score
58-51. Following a Lance Hill jumper,
Humphrey's dunk and two Hamilton free throws cut the deficit to five before
Dane Brumagin nailed a three-pointer to make the score 60-58 with 7:59 to play.
Following a media time-out, Humphrey's thunderous dunk
evened the tally at 60 with 7:05 left in the game. After trading free throws, Centenary regained
the momentum with a three-pointer from Chase Adams from the top of the
key. The long ball opened a 13-5 run for
the Gents, which pushed their lead back to eight (74-66) with 3:16 left.
Humphrey tried to keep the Kangaroos within striking distance,
as he connected on a long ball with three minutes remaining to cut the deficit
to five (74-69). Centenary, however, responded
with seven of eight points to stretch its lead to 11 (81-70) before going on to
the 83-75 victory.
UMKC shot .458 (27-59) from the field and .286 (4-14) from
long range, while the Gents finished with a .574 (27-47) field gold percentage
and a .571 (12-21) mark from three-point land.
In the loss, the ?Roos won the battle on the boards, 37-24.
Humphrey's career-high performance came on a 6-of-10 day
from the floor. Sophomore Spencer Johnson
finished with 14, Hamilton
had 13, and Ford netted 12 on the afternoon.
McKinney-Jones led the team on the glass with a career-best nine boards.
Four Centenary players, meanwhile, finished the day in
double figures. Adams
led all scorers in the contest with 19 points after making 4-of-5 shots from
three-point range.
UMKC (6-16, 2-7) will return home for a pair of contests
beginning with a Thursday night match-up against Western
Illinois at Kemper Arena.
